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Duluth and St. Louis County
Minnesota
Their Story and People
An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular
Attention to the Modern Era in the Commercial,
Industrial, Educational, Civic and
Social Development
Prepared under the Editorial Supervision of
WALTER VAN BRUNT
Assisted by a Board of Advisory Editors
ISSUED IN THREE VOLUMES
VOLUME III
ILLUSTRATED
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
CHICAGO and NEW YORK
1921
^.w
41348A
Copyright 1921
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Chicago and New York
History of
Duluth and St. Louis County
David T. Adams, of Chicago, formerly of Duluth, is a pioneer of the
Iron Range country whose services would justify full representation in
any volume of biography devoted to this region.
The editor and compilers of this History of St. Louis County are
indebted to Mr. Adams for a manuscript account of his experiences as
an explorer and discoverer of the Mesaba Range. Generous use has
been made of this manuscript in preparing the history of the region, and
it is appropriate that at this point some credit should be given in the way
of reference to the more important chapters where his contributions as a
historian may be read. Some of these subtitles are : History of the
Mesaba Range ; History of Pioneer Activities in Biwabik, McKinley,
Merritt, and Pioneer Mining in Biwabik Township ; History of the
Incorporated Villages of Virginia and Eveleth, and History of Mining
in the Virginia and Eveleth District; The Incorporated City of Eveleth
and City of Virginia.
A former publication on the iron ranges in Minnesota justly stated:
"Considering all the results accruing from his work, it may be said with
little fear of contradiction that no single individual contributed more
toward bringing about the phenomenal changes which took place on the
Range during the early years of the nineties than Mr. Adams. To
Mr. Adams is due not only the locating and development of a number of
the richest iron mines of the Mesaba Range, but the building of the cities
of Virginia and Eveleth, two of the most prosperous towns upon the
Range."
Among the other early works for which Mr. Adams is entitled to
credit is the map of the Mesaba Range, which was compiled and pub-
lished in 1893. In this map the formation is traced and the principal
mines located with a degree of accuracy which proves that he was fami-
liar with the entire Range at that early date, and subsequent surveys have
made very little material changes in the map of the Range.
David Tugaw Adams has had a personal career as rugged as the
scenes and activities that for so long proved the arena of his experience.
He was born at Rockford, Illinois, September 6, 1859, son of Moses
Tugaw and Jane (Castoney) Adams. The parents were born in Canada,
moved to New York state in 1840, and several years later came west and
for several years had their home at Rockford. About 1861 they moved to
Chilton, Wisconsin, and in 1865 to Menasha in that state. Moses Adams
was a butcher by trade, but was a farmer in Illinois and in Wisconsin,
where he died in the fall of 1867.
David T. Adams was then eight years of age. The death of the
father left the family with limited means. The widowed mother was
unable to support her seven children, and they were compelled to separate
and find homes among strangers. Thus from the age of eight David
Adams was cast upon his own resources. His boyhood naturally was
one of privation, hard work and a great variety of experience that had
to suffice as the chief source of an education.
He was about twenty years of age when he came from Oshkosh, Wis-
consin, to the mining regions of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and
began his work as an explorer for iron ore in the vicinity of Crystal
Falls and Iron River. This work was pursued with little profit, though
of inestimable advantage to him in subsequent years. Seeking more
933
934 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
profitable fields, he left Michigan for northeastern Minnesota, and on
June 20, 1882, arrived at Duluth. Thereafter, as the records of history
show, no one was >o personally prominent in discovering and bringing
to development the great iron wealth of northeastern Minnesota. His
first investigations, beginning in the fall of 1883, did not prove particu-
larly successful, and it is a tribute to his persistence that he kept steadily
at work in studying and investigating until he had explored what is now
known to the world as the great Mesaba Range. He was the first to
promulgate the theory that this Range was at one time the shore line of
an extinct sea. In consequence of his years of practical work there is
no doubt that the claim will not be disputed in asserting that he is an
authority on Minnesota mining without a superior. While his work was
in such a large measure a great public service to the world of industry
and to many town communities in northern Minnesota, happily his efforts
did not go unrewarded in a material sense.
Mr. Adams is a Republican in politics. He served as treasurer of
Duluth Lodge of Elks No. 133 from about 1898 to 1903. He is a mem-
ber of the Illinois Athletic Club, the South Shore Country Club and the
Westmoreland Country Club of Chicago, of the Kitchi Gammi Club of
Duluth, and is a member of the Lake Superior Mining Institute and the
American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers.
At Mount Clemens, Michigan, November 23, 1908, Mr. Adams mar-
ried Helen L. Wishart, daughter of Frank K. and Jean Wishart, of
Scotch Canadian ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have an adopted daugh-
ter, a niece of Mr. Adams, named Lucilla.
Phineas Terry Brownell. From the time the first railroad was
built into the Ely district until the present members of the Brownell
family have been sustaining factors in business and in many lines of
the development that have marked this progressive section of northern
Minnesota.
The founder of the family there was the late Phineas Terry Brownell,
who died at Ely November 4, 1920. He was then sixty-five years of age.
He was born at Fairhaven, Masaschusetts, a son of Henry and Harriet
Brownell, of that state, and as a youth he attended school in his native
town and also Bryant & Stratton Business College at Boston. Trained
as a bookkeeper, he removed as a young man to Michigan, and for a
time kept the books of a mining company's store.
It was in 1886 that he joined the small group of first settlers at Tower.
The railroad had only recently been completed to Soudan. His principal
business connection with this community was as bookkeeper for P. J.
Richwine in a general store, but first he was employed in the Grube meat
market. The late Mr. Brownell came to Ely in 1889, and with Nick
Pastoret bought a meat market. Later he became sole proprietor and
was active head of the business of Brownell & Company until his death.
This is one of the oldest commercial concerns under one continuous owner-
ship in Ely.
Phineas Terry Brownell was always eager to enlist himself in some
cause of public and community improvement. He built one of the first
summer homes on Burntside Lake, and was the leader in promoting the
Ely-Burntside Outing Company, serving as its treasurer, and was largely
instrumental in making that one of the most popular pleasure resorts in
northern Minnesota. He was a Knight Templar Mason, affiliating with
the Commandery at Eveleth, and in politics was a Republican.
In Michigan Phineas T. Brownell married Louise Gertrude Hill. Five
children were .born to their marriage and four are now living. The oldest
is Leslie M. The second, Captain Otto B., is a graduate of the University
\ "
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 935
of Minnesota, and is an engineer by profession. Early in the war with
Germany he was commissioned a captain of engineers, trained at Fort
Leavenworth, and went to the battle front in France with the 32nd
Division, 107th Engineers. He was formerly assistant city engineer of
Duluth, but is now engaged in his profession at Minneapolis. The third
son, Edward, is still associated in the meat business founded by his
father. The only daughter, Lucia, is a student in the State University.
Leslie M. Brownell, whose life has been one of exceptional experience
and varied service, was born in Michigan January 21, 1882, but from
earliest boyhood lived in northern Minnesota. He acquired his prelim-
inary education in the Ely schools. On account of an affliction of the
ears he went to the southwest, and continued his education in the New
Mexico Military Institute at Roswell. He was graduated at the age of
twenty-two and the following year remained with the school as teacher
of Spanish and Military Science. On returning to Minnesota he was
employed in exploration work by the Oliver Mining Company on the
Mesaba Range. Mr. Brownell then joined the United States forest
service, at first as a guard and after passing the Civil Service examination
was promoted to ranger, and for six years was supervisor of the Supe-
rior National Forest, with headquarters at Ely. Continuing in the service,
he was transferred, and for a year and a half was supervisor at Pagosa
Springs and Delta, Colorado. No influence and inclination is stronger
with him than work in the open and particularly in the forests of the
great west. While with the forestry service he built trails, surveyed roads,
helped fight forest fires, and enjoyed to the full even the most difficult
of his experiences. Since his father's death he has had charge of the
business at Ely.
In 1909 Mr. Brownell married Alma Lee, daughter of Oscar Lee, of
Merrillan, Wisconsin. They have three children, Lee, Margery and
Terry. Mr. Brownell is a member of the Knights of Pythias and is a
Republican.
Robert J. Whiteside, president of the Northern Motor Company,
automobile distributors, has been active in the automobile business only
about four years, and prior to that was a practical worker and technical
man engaged in the operations of the mining and lumber district of
northern Minnesota and other sections of the northwest.
He was born at Severn Bridge, Canada, November 14, 1877, and
came to America with his cousin, John A. Densmore, and located at Ely,
Minnesota. His father, Richard Whiteside, had come to Minnesota about
1886, and fqr many years was actively engaged in the lumber business
at Ely. He continued in this business until about six years before his
death.
Robert J. Whiteside was third in a family of ten children, eight of
whom are still living. He acquired his early education in the country
schools of Canada and as a youth found work in the woods and acquired
a knowledge of practically every phase of logging and lumbering. He
graduated from laborer to the rank of compass man or cruiser and later
was a foreman in a lumber camp on the Vermillion Range of Minnesota
for about three years. He was then in the service of R. B. Whiteside
in the mining and lumber business on the Range, and continued to look
after his interests there until about 1914. Following that for just eight
months Mr. Whiteside had some active experience in the oil industry
in Wyoming.
About the first of September, 1916, he returned to Duluth and entered
the automobile business with an incorporated company. In September,
1917, he organized the Spice Auto Company and on October 27, 1919,
936 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
reorganized the business as the Northern Motor Company, of which
Mr. Whiteside is president, R. F. Burke, vice president and general man-
ager, and J. R. Belleperche, secretary. This company, whose headquarters
are at 210-212 East Superior street, took over the business of the Spice
Auto Company, and as a hundred thousand dollar corporation have
ample facilities for a general business as automobile distributors. They
have the agency for the Nash and Lexington cars.
Mr. Whiteside is a member of the Duluth Automobile Club, the
Sportsmen's Club, is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the
order of Elks, and in politics is a Republican. At Ely, Minnesota,
November 19, 1903, he married Miss Agnes S. Childers, daughter of
Solmen S. Childers. Her parents were among the first settlers of Ely.
Mrs. Whiteside finished her education in the schools of that place. Of
the two children born to their marriage the one now living is Albert Owen
Whiteside, born November 3, 1904.
A. W. Eiler. One of the most important branches of business life
is the supplying of the consumer with reliable foodstuffs, and when a
man does this and renders efficient service at reasonable prices he is
certain to attain to a high standing in his community. For a number of
years A. W. Eiler has been in the grocery business, and he is now con-
ducting one of the most modern of retail grocery establishments at Proc-
tor, and is also engaged in handling a high grade of fresh and salted meats,
the large and stable trade he has built up in both lines proving his
dependability.
Mr. Eiler is a native of Denmark, where he was born October 4, 1861,
and he was nineteen years old when he left his native land for the United
States, where he arrived in 1880. Going to Chicago, Illinois, for a time
he worked in a leather and belt factory, but later entered a grocery
store as a clerk, and in time saved sufficient money to start in business
for himself as a grocer on Indiana avenue, Chicago. After two years,
in 1884, he went to Duluth, Minnesota, and from 1884 until 1887 con-
ducted a grocery for Charles Kresman. In the latter year he bought the
business from his employer, and in 1891, moved it from its original
location on Lake avenue to No. 42 West Superior street. Two years
later Mr. Eiler moved to Fourth street, and remained there for ten years.
He then went back to Lake avenue for eight years, at the termination
of which period he came to Proctor and established himself in his present
business. He carries a full and varied line of green and staple groceries
and meats, and handles only first-class goods. In addition to carrying on
his business in a manner to reflect credit on Proctor, he renders the
community service in other ways, and is one of the constructive elements
here.
In 1889 Mr. Eiler was married to Miss Christiana Thompson, whose
parents were natives of Norway. Mr. and Mrs. Eiler became the parents
of four children, three of whom survive, namely: William, who lives
at Plattsville, Wisconsin ; Earl, who is a veterinary surgeon ; and Henry,
who is a civil engineer. Mr. Eiler is a member of the order of Odd
Fellows and the Danish Brotherhood of Duluth. In politics he is a
Republican. A steady, hard-working and capable man, he has earned all
he now possesses and is entitled to the prosperity he enjoys.
August and Olef M. Johnson are among the oldest established mer-
chants of Hibbing, and the firm of Johnson Brothers is a successful
business partnership that has thoroughly stood the test of time. The
brothers are men of action, "have achieved prosperity since coming to
America through the avenues of hard work, thrift and persistence, and
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 937
have exemplified ideals of American citizenship admirable from every
standpoint.
Both were born in Sweden. Their father was John Peterson and
their mother Amelia Johanson. In the old country the family were
farmers. The first of the children to come to America was Carl John-
son, who reached the United States in 1888. Olef Johnson came next,
in 1890, and found employment in sawmills at Ramsay, Michigan. In
the spring of 1891 August and his sister Anna came over. The sister
went on to the state of Washington, where she married and where she
is still living. August joined his brother at Ramsay, and the three
brothers soon removed to Ashland, Wisconsin, and worked on the break-
water and later in the stone quarry at Presque Isle. In 1893 Carl John-
son returned to Sweden, where he is still living. The other two brothers,
August and Olef, worked out their destiny and have become prominent
American citizens. For several years they continued to be employed in
quarries in summer and in the woods in winter. In 1895 Olef came
to Hibbing and entered the service of the old Lake Superior Iron Mining
Company. His brother August followed him about two years later. Olef
continued working in the mines until 1904, in which year the Johnson
Brothers combined their capital and experience and engaged in the retail
grocery business. They have sold goods to the community at Hibbing
ever since, and have been deservedly prospered.
The Johnson brothers married sisters. The wife of Olef was Emily
Carlson, and to their union were born eleven children, named Norman,
Earl, Ruth, Albert, Ethel, Oscar, Theresa, Helen, Frank, Leonard and
Robert. Olef and family are Lutherans and fraternally he is a thirty-
second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
The wife of August Johnson was Hannah Carlson. Their three
children are Gladys, Ewald and Wilfred. August has likewise attained
the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite Masonry, is an Odd Fellow and
a member of the Lutheran Church.
C. G. Carlson is a young man with a veteran's experience in railroad
work, and during the eight or nine years he has been identified with
Tower as station agent he has proved one of the ablest spirits in the
civic affairs and the general advancement of that community.
Mr. Carlson was born on a farm in South Sweden October 6, 1889,
only son of the seven children born to C. E. and Amanda (Carlson)
Carlson. His parents brought their family from Sweden in 1902 and
located at Two Harbors, Minnesota. The parents now live in Duluth,
the father at the age of fifty-nine and the mother at fifty-seven. The
father worked on the railroad docks and later at street paving in the
city, of Two Harbors. He is a Republican, and always been interested
in local affairs in the community where he has lived since coming to
America.
C. G. Carlson attended school at Two Harbors from the time he was
thirteen until he was fifteen., At that early age he began railroading
as call boy for the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad. Later he was in
the air brake department of the machine shops, also warehouse foreman
at Two Harbors, did clerical work at depots, filled in a brief interval
as station agent at Aurora, and was then relief man and traveling auditor.
In 1913 he was appointed to the duties of station and express agent at
Tower, and he has made an enviable record in faithfulness and efficiency
to the company and in caring for the business of the community. Mr.
Carlson had an uncle who came to northern Minnesota many years ago,
and was at one time captain at Soudan Mine.
938 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Carlson has served on the Tower School Board, as municipal
judge, and has been secretary, treasurer and is now president of the
Tower Commercial Club. He is a director of the Ten Thousand Lakes
Association of Minnesota, a director of the Minnesota Automobile Asso-
ciation, is a member of the St. Louis Country Club, is chairman of the
Republican Committee in his precinct, is a Scottish Rite Mason and
Shriner, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Mac-
cabees, and has other fraternal and social relations. Mr. Carlson is a
trustee of the Tower Presbyterian Church. In 1913, the year he came
to Tower, he married Miss Pearl Morin, daughter of Peter E. Morin,
of Tower. They have two children, Violet and Kenneth.
A. S. Nordstrom, president of the Duluth Linen Company, is a com-
paratively young man but has had a long business experience since he
entered commercial life at Duluth when only a boy.
He was born at Duluth March 13, 1887, son of Gustaf and Christine
(Lundell) Nordstrom. His parents were born in Sweden, came to Amer-
ica about 1885, came to the state of Minnesota soon afterward and in
1886 established their home at Duluth. The father was a carpenter by
trade, and followed that occupation until his death.
Of nine children eight are still living, A. S. Nordstrom being the fourth
in age. He attended the public schools of Duluth, but at the age of
thirteen went to work as an errand boy, subsequently was clerk in
the establishment of Huntington and Tallant, and continued with that
concern until it was reorganized as the George A. Gray Company. Mr.
Nordstrom then found an opportunity to use his modest capital and con-
siderable experience to engage in business for himself under the firm
name of Valentine-Nordstrom Company. They started in 1912, as dealers
in dry goods, but primarily catering to the needs and requirements of
hotels and hospitals. In 1915 Mr. Nordstrom withdrew from the partner-
ship, and early in the following year established the Duluth Linen Com-
pany, a business similar in purpose to his previous enterprise. The com-
pany are manufacturers and wholesalers in linen and cotton goods, and
maintain a special service supplying all the needs of large users of linen,
such as hotels and hospitals. Mr. Nordstrom assisted in organizing the
company and has been president since it was incorporated in 1916. John
F. Bergin is vice president and secretary and Edward Regelsberger is
treasurer. While the business started with a small capital and on a
modest scale, it has grown and prospered rapidly.
Mr. Nordstrom is a member of the Duluth Boat Club. On September
6, 1916, he married Mrs. D. E. Tupper, of Duluth. She was educated
in the public schools of Duluth, studied music at Owatonna, Minnesota,
and for a time was engaged in teaching instrumental music in this city.
Mr. and Mrs. Nordstrom have one son, whom they have named Fielder
Albin. He is a namesake of his second cousin "Fielder Jones," the
popular baseball player.
Charles W. Bray, M. D., one of the leading physicians and surgeons
of Saint Louis County, now engaged in the practice of his profession at
Biwabik, comes of a family of physicians. His father was a physician;
his uncle, Doctor Bray, practiced medicine at Evansville, Indiana, until
he was seventy-two years old; a brother, Dr. Elwyn Bray, is an eye,
ear and nose specialist of Saint Paul, Minnesota ; a cousin, Dr. Charles
Bray, is engaged in an active practice at Portland, Maine, and his wife
was a classmate of his and was graduated from the medical department
of the University of Minnesota in 1895, having previously been graduated
from its literary department in 1892. Doctor Bray is the proprietor of the
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 939
Eiwabik Hospital, which was established in 1892 by Doctor Magie. The
original building was destroyed by fire, and the present modern hospital
building was erected by Doctor Bray in 1906, and he has since conducted
the institution, which is recognized to be one of the best in the county.
Doctor Bray was born on a farm at Young America, Minnesota,
September 7, 1868, a son of Dr. Eben and Angie (Noyes) Bray, both of
whom were born in Maine. Dr. Eben Bray attended medical college at
Cincinnati, Ohio, and for some years practiced medicine at Carver, Min-
nesota, but in later years lived on a farm at Young America, this state.
His death occurred in 1891, when he was seventy -two years old, and his
wife died in 1915, when seventy-four years old. A leading Democrat of
his district, he represented it in the first Territorial Legislature, and
always maintained his interest in politics. The Baptist Church had in
him a zealous and generous member until his death.
Doctor Bray was graduated from the literary department of the Uni-
versity of Minnesota in 1891 and in its medical department in 1895, and
has since then taken up post-graduate work at Johns-Hopkins and Har-
vard. For one year following the securing of his degree of Doctor of
Medicine he was house physician of a Saint Paul hospital, and then for
three years was engaged in a general practice at Minneapolis, Minnesota,
but in 1899 came to Biwabik, taking over the hospital at that time.
In 1899 Doctor Bray was married to Mary Bassett, a daughter of
Robert Bassett of Hastings, Minnesota. They have four children, as
follows: Robert, Elizabeth, Philip and Kenneth. During the late war
Robert Bray was in the Students' Officers' Training Camp at Carleton
College, Northfield. Dr. Bray rendered efficient service on the Medical
Examining Board at Biwabik, and both he and his wife worked hard in
the different campaigns to raise money for war purposes, Mrs. Bray
being specially active in the local Red Cross. They are members of the
Congregational Church, of which he is one of the trustees. He is a
Shriner Mason, and well known in that fraternity. In politics he is an
independent voter, but aside from serving on the school board has felt
no desire for office. Doctor Bray has other interests and is now serving
as vice president of the First National Bank of Biwabik. He is a man
big of brain and warm of heart, and his actions mark him as a man
upright and sincere. Professionally his skill is unquestioned, and in the
management of his hospital he displays business ability of no mean order.
Martin Rosendahl, who has built up one of the largest distributing
agencies for motor cars in the northwest, has had a busy career, beginning
when a boy, and has had every variation of experience from telegraph
messenger boy to promoter of industrial and financial organizations.
Mr. Rosendahl was born at Minneapolis July 18, 1878. His father,
Peter Rosendahl, was a native of Norway, came to America in 1860 and
first located in Minneapolis but later removed to Stoughton, Wisconsin.
He was a cooper by trade, and while working in that vocation he also took
a great interest in his friends and fellow countrymen. He eventually
led a colony and founded a settlement and through his influence promoted
its upbuilding and brought many of his friends and the people of his
nationality to that region and gave them wise counsel and advice in
establishing homes. His uncle, Ole Rosendahl, was the owner of a noted
institution in Minnesota where many people still go to get the benefit of its
celebrated mud baths. He is the original discoverer of the mud baths
located at Jordan, Minn.
Martin Rosendahl, the youngest of three children, acquired his early
education in the schools of Stoughton, Wisconsin, and later attended
school at Duluth when his parents moved here. At the age of twelve
940 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
he was working as a messenger boy for the Union Telegraph Company.
Subsequently he was a water carrier on the coal docks, later an employe
of the Northwestern Fuel Company in charge of their shipping depart-
ment, and for several years conducted some profitable cigar stores. He
served as deputy internal revenue collector, then for two years operated
a cut-rate ticket agency, and from that entered the brokerage business
and in that capacity financed one of the largest mining companies in
the north. He also became an organizer and stockholder in a large
exploration and development company handling oil lands in eastern
Kentucky.
Mr. Rosendahl has concentrated most of his energies and enterprise
upon the automobile business since 1913. He has developed about thir-
teen local agencies in different parts of the country, his chief offices
being at 229-231 East Superior street in Duluth, and through the Duluth
headquarters and other agencies under his supervision he is one of the
distributers in the United States of the Scripps-Booth, Cleveland and
Chandler motor cars. Mr. Rosendahl is a member of the United Com-
mercial Travelers, and belongs to the Commercial Club, to the Elks and
Good Samaritans. He married at Duluth Miss Myra Grandy, and their
two children are Marian and Jane.
Niels Nissen is one of the ablest men in the insurance business in
the northwest. His experience involves practically every phase of the
insurance business, from that of a soliticitor and individual underwriter
to the organizer and executive official of corporations performing the
service of insurance. •
Mr. Nissen was born August 23, 1876, in the Province of Slesvig.
Slesvig was originally a part of Denmark, was taken away by Germany
about sixty or seventy years ago, and under the terms of the treaty
imposed on Germany by the World war has been returned to Denmark.
Mr. Nissen acquired his education in the schools of his native province
and in 1896 came to America alone, partly to escape compulsory service
with the German military. His first home was at Hartford, Connecticut,
where he was employed for a time in making automobile and bicycle tires.
He was also in the printing business, and while there found his first
opportunities to engage in the insurance business as a solicitor for the
Prudential Insurance Company. With this well known corporation he
had rapid advancement in proportion to his ability and results obtained.
After a year he was promoted to take charge of the Prudential's office
at Bristol, Connecticut. He remained there five years and was then
offered the opportunity of taking charge of a new Prudential office to be
opened at Duluth, as its superintendent. That was in 1908, and in that
year Mr. Nissen brought his family to Duluth. After three years as
Prudential superintendent at Duluth he resigned to become field manager
of the agency force of the Modern Samaritans.
Not long afterward he laid plans for the organization of a casualty
company. He personally effected this organization, and in January, 1912,
became president of the Duluth Casualty Association, which was incor-
porated the 5th of January and licensed January 23, 1912. Since then he
has become identified with the management and promotion of other cor-
porations performing a general insurance service. Just a few days before
the big forest fire in 1918 he was asked to take over the Farmers' Mutual
Fire Insurance Company on account of the removal of the secretary to
another state. He handled the affairs of that company in addition to
his responsibilities with the Duluth Casualty Association, and when the
business of the company was finally straightened out after the fire he
was asked to become the permanent secretary, and that office he still holds.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 941
Among various business enterprises with which he has been connected
while in Duluth one of the most recent was the organization by Mr.
Nissen in 1919 of a stock life insurance company known as the Duluth
Liability Association. This company was licensed to do business May
11, 1920. He is president and general manager.
Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic Order, the Modern Wood-
men of America, Modern Samaritans, Danish Brotherhood and several
other fraternities. He belongs to the Lutheran Church, and while voting
and otherwise performing his responsibilities as a citizen and member of
the Republican party he has never sought public office.
July 15, 1898, at Hartford, Connecticut, he married Miss Hannah
Peterson, daughter of Karsten Peterson, who also immigrated from
Slesvig. Mrs. Nissen acquired her education in the schools of Hartford,
Connecticut, and is very active in church work at Duluth. To their mar-
riage have been born seven children, all living, named Lena, Karsten,
Niels, Jr., Margaret, Marie, Mae and Robert. The son Karsten was
with the colors for two years in the World war, spending one year in
France, and for eight months of that time was in military police service at
Paris. Mr. Nissen has his business offices in the Alworth Building, and
he and his interesting family reside at 2622 West Sixth street.
F. H. Sickels. The hardware and furniture house of F. H. Sickels
is one of the leading business establishments of Proctor, and is the out-
growth of a lifetime of endeavor on the part of the proprietor, whose
prosperity has been gained through individual effort and the application
of sound common sense. F. H. Sickels was born at Waukesha, Wisconsin,
February 10, 1861, a son of George E. Sickels, who was born in the state
of New York. His mother was a native of Connecticut.
Mr. Sickels became a clerk in a hardware store at Saint Paul, Min-
nesota, but about 1912 came to Proctor and bought his present hardware
and furniture store, which he has since expanded and has built up a very
gratifying trade. He now operates under the name of F. H. Sickels
& Company, Mrs. Sickels, being the company. In addition to a full and
varied line of hardware and furniture, he carries paints, oils and varnishes,
and all of his goods are first-class in every respect.
In November, 1912, Mr. Sickels was married to Grace E. Smith.
Having been so fully occupied with his. business affairs, he has had no
time to enter public life, but he has always taken an intelligent interest
in civic matters, and can be depended upon to give an earnest support
to all measures which he deems will be for the good of the majority.
In all of his ventures he has displayed a natural business ability which
has done much to place him where he is today. Until he entered the
hardware field he was not satisfied with his experiments in business, but
in it found what he felt was his life work, and his subsequent success
proves that this was a fortunate move. Both he and Mrs. Sickels are
popular with their social acquaintances, and their pleasant home is often
the scene of delightful gatherings.
Thomas E. Miller. Practically all the changes, developments and
events worth recording have occurred at Ely since Thomas E. Miller
identified himself with the pioneer community thirty odd years ago.
Throughout that period he has been consistently engaged in the mer-
cantile business, and is the active head of the Miller Store Company,
one of the oldest business establishments under one management in the
Range country.
Mr. Miller was born at Toronto, Canada, January 14, 1865, son of
William and Christina (Robertson) Miller. His parents were good
942 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Scotch Presbyterian people, and after their marriage in Scotland emi-
grated to Canada, where they lived out their lives, dying at the respective
ages of seventy-four and sixty-nine. William Miller was an industrious
shoemaker by trade. He had a family of six sons and three daughters.
Three of them came to the United States, Robert S. and Thomas E.. both
of Ely, and one daughter, Agnes, wife of Julius Goedge, now of San
Erancisco.
Robert S. Miller was the third merchant to start a store in the town
of Ely. Thomas E. Miller acquired his early education at Goderich,
Canada, and continued in school until sixteen, when he began learning
the grocery business in the same town. For a time he was at Hayward,
Wisconsin, and on November 1, 1888, joined his brother Robert at Ely,
and since then has been continuously associated with the enterprise estab-
lished by his brother. For many years this was a general merchandise
emporium.
The firm built up and retained a large trade, but sustained heavy
losses in the fire of 1913. They immediately reorganized, and their suc-
cess has been growing by rapid strides ever since. Since 1918 the busi-
ness has been one of exclusive trade in groceries.
Thomas E. Miller has been a merchant who has applied himself with
few vacations to his business for over thirty years. Notwithstanding, he
has found time to work for the general welfare of the community, par-
ticularly being interested in the progress of education. For nine years
he was on the School Board, and secretary of the board for four years.
He has seen the schools of Ely grow from a little one-room schoolhouse
to a well organized system requiring a large investment in buildings and
a corps of teachers. Mr. Miller is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner,
a member of the Woodmen and Maccabees, is a Republican, and he and
his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. In 1893 he married
Mabel Walker, of Ayr, Canada.
R. D. McKercher, the senior partner in the Oldsmobile Sales Com-
pany, one of the oldest established automobile firms within Duluth, now
in its twenty-second year, has been a resident of the city for a quarter of
a century and is a former chief of police.
He was born in Ontario, Canada, March 19, 1874, and after acquiring
his education came to the United States at the age of twenty-one. Locat-
ing in Duluth, he followed his trade as a blacksmith, which he had learned
in Canada. After two years he left his trade and became clerk in the
order department of the great wholesale house of Marshall Wells & Com-
pany, and was there four years. He left that firm to become clerk in
the office of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, later was foreman
in the warehouse, and altogether spent eleven years in the service of the
railway corporation. He left that to enter upon his public duties as
humane agent for the city of Duluth, and after four years was appointed
chief of police, and gave an efficient administration of that office until
1916. At that date he engaged in the automobile business in association
with Mr. Turner, and still later with the Oldsmobile Sales Company.
During the past several years his business in sales of cars has increased
more than a hundred per cent.
Mr. McKercher has always been prominent in local civic affairs, is a
member of the Commercial Club, Duluth Automobile Club, is affiliated
with Palestine Lodge No. 79, A. F. and A. M., and is a member of the
Elks, Good Samaritans and Scottish Clans. In 1896 he married Miss
C. W. McKilligan. They have twin children, Cecil and Ella, born July
5, 1900.
(7r 'cO MC^z^
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 943
Carl A. Knutson. Among the younger generation of Duluth busi-
ness men whose names are deserving of special mention for what they
stand for in the line of achievement in their chosen vocations is Carl A.
Knutson, a well-known realty operator. Mr. Knutson was born at Wells,
Minnesota, September 21, 1883, a son of Martin Knutson. His father,
a native of Norway, immigrated to the United States in 1880 with his
wife and two children and located at Wells, Minnesota, where he engaged
in the tailoring business. In 1890 he removed to Duluth, where he con-
tinued in the same line of business during the remainder of his active
years, and is now living in retirement, being sixty-seven years of age. He
has been the father of nine children, Carl A. being the fourth in order of
birth.
Carl A. Knutson attended the public schools of Duluth until he reached
the age of thirteen years, and at that time commenced herding cattle. In
1901 he entered the realty field with the W. M. Prindle Company in the
dual capacity of bookkeeper and cashier. From these positions he was
advanced to the management of the rentals department of the business for
two years, following which he went to Seattle, Washington, and for two
years operated in the realty field there, but in 191 5 returned to Duluth
and became manager of the Johnson Land Company, owners of a vast
amount of property, with which concern he remained five years. From
March, 1909, to May, 1911, he was engaged in the building business, and
in Duluth built about thirty houses.
Mr. Knutson embarked in business on his own account in 1920, and
since that time has maintained offices on the seventh floor of the Palladio
Building, where he conducts a general real estate business. His career has
been a typical exemplification of ambitious manhood, and he is already
accorded a place among the men whose activities are serving to maintain
the high standard existing in real estate circles.
Mr. Knutson has numerous important business, civic and social con-
nections, and is a Christian Scientist in his religious belief. He was
married July 2, 1913, at Seattle, Washington, to Miss Jessie E. Johnson,
and to this union there has come one son, James E., born January 14, 1915.
Robert William Acton, highway engineer for St. Louis County, is
eminently qualified to give expert technical counsel to the county authori-
ties in the construction of a good roads system. His long experience in
the construction of railroads and other highways is ample proof of his
qualifications for his present duties. <
Mr. Acton was born in Minnesota January 27, 1881, son of Nehemiah
Judson and Annie Mary (Manners) Acton. His father, a native of the
province of New Brunswick, Canada, came to the United States in 1870,
when he was fifteen years of age. For eight or nine years he worked
in the pineries of Wisconsin. At twenty-four he moved to Dakota County.
Minnesota, went to work on a farm, soon afterward married, and he and
his bride moved out to the prairies of Swift County, where he took up a
homestead. After about ten years in Swift County he moved to Lac Qui
Parle County and continued to give his time and efforts largely to agri-
culture until his death in 1920. His widow is still living at the age of
sixty-three.
Oldest of three children, Robert W. Acton spent his early life on a
Minnesota farm, but availed himself of the opportunities of some of the
best schools. He was graduated from the high school at Madison, Minne-
sota, in 1900, and in the fall of the same year entered the University of
Minnesota. While his college work was not continuous, his associations
with the university continued until 1904. While there he specialized in
944 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
civil engineering, but also gained much practical experience by an absence
of several months at a time in railroad construction work.
In 1904 Mr. Acton joined the Illinois Central Company's engineering
department as instrument man in the construction of their lines in the
Mississippi Delta in the state of Mississippi. He was with the Illinois
Central about nine months and then became resident engineer of railroad
construction for the Southern Railway in Mississippi. His service as an
engineer in the south was terminated in the late fall of 1906 by reason of
his having contracted malaria.
Returning to Minnesota and after regaining his health he entered the
employ of the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway as
engineer on location and construction, and continued that work for the
company about five years, until 191 1.
Mr. Acton has had some technical and engineering connections with
the good roads activities of Minnesota for ten years. From 1911 until
January 1, 1917, he was with the State Highway Department as division
engineer on the location and construction of highways. At the latter date
he took up his present work as engineer of roads for St. Louis County,
and as such has his offices in the courthouse in Duluth.
Mr. Acton is a member of the Minnesota Surveyors and Engineers
Society, the Duluth Engineers Club, is a member of the Commercial Club,
Rotary Club, Duluth Boat Club, Ridgeway Golf Club, Y. M. C. A. and
Geneva Lodge No. 196, A. F. and A. M. October 11, 1906, he married
Miss Lorena Young, of Columbus, Mississippi.
Oscar G. Lindberg has been a resident of Duluth and environs for
over a third of a century, and for many years has been active in business
affairs at Hibbing, where he is now a member of the real estate and
insurance firm of Dyer & Lindberg.
He was born in Sweden July 18, 1875, and was eleven years of age
when in 1886 the family came to the United States. The parents were
Abraham and Maria Lindberg, who located at Duluth. The father died
in 1918 and the mother in 1907. Three of their five children are still
living. Oscar G. Lindberg attended school in his native country, also at
Duluth, but at the age of fourteen went to work and for five years was
in the service of Dr. Charles Slaughter of Duluth. Incidental to his other
work he took up the study of medicine in the doctor's office, but abandoned
the intention of becoming a physician. For three years he clerked in a
drug store, later went on the road as a traveling salesman, and in 1911
came to Hibbing and was president of the wholesale liquor house of the
Mesaba Wholesale Liquor Company until the liquor business was abol-
ished. For two years he was in the automobile business, but since April,
1918, has given his time to the firm of Dyer & Lindberg. This firm has
handled many of the real estate deals at Hibbing, South Hibbing and
the farming district of St. Louis County. They sold about four hundred
and fifty lots in South Hibbing.
Mr. Lindberg was elected a member of the Village Council in 1917
and served one year. He is a Republican, affiliated with the Improved
Order of Red Men and the Elks, is a director of the Commercial Club
and attends the Catholic Church. On November 18, 1903, he married
Minnie Lana, of Duluth.
John Runquist has been building railroads in the northwestern coun-
try for over thirty years. He is one of the principal railroad contractors
whose home and headquarters are at Duluth, and altogether he has been
a factor in the good citizenship of this community for thirty-three years.
Mr. Runquist was born in Sweden in 1862, and was reared and edu-
cated in his native country. In 1885 he came alone to America and em-
JOHN RUXOUIST
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 945
ployed his modest capital and experience as a farmer at Hastings, Minne-
sota. He left the farm to become a foreman for the Chicago, Burlington
& Quincy Railroad while a branch of that line was being constructed in
northern Dakota. He left the Burlington to take a similar post with the
Great Northern Railroad, and for three years was a foreman at different
points along that system. In 1887 Mr. Runquist came to Duluth, and
for the following twelve years was foreman of construction on the
Duluth and Iron Range. Since 1898 he has maintained an independent
organization for railroad building and contracting, and handled some
important contracts at the beginning for the Duluth and Iron Range and
later for the Duluth and Mesaba Railway. He has also constructed and
improved streets, made sewers, and handled other municipal contracts in
the Morgan Park district of Duluth. He built the Duluth and Mesaba
street car line, has done much contracting for the Great Northern Rail-
way, and a large part of his facilities are now employed in road building
in a number of the northern counties of Minnesota.
Mr. Runquist is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and
Shriner, also an Elk and a Republican in politics.
William H. Day. No community can be sounder than the men who
control its commercial life, for upon their energy and integrity rests the
stability of existing institutions. To. have lived for years in one locality,
and during that period conducted a concern with high-minded purpose,
supplying the demand, and expanding with the growing needs of the
populace, indicates an ability which is deserving of commendation. Wil-
liam H. Day, the oldest established merchant now in business at 1 fibbing,
is a man who has every reason to be proud of his long and successful
career, and his fellow citizens accord to him a respect his honorable
policies have won.
William H. Day was born at Plattsburg, Clinton County, New York,
August 8, 1864. His parents, Cyrus and Mary (Robinson) Day, were
farmers, and for generations both families have resided in the United
States. Both parents are now deceased, but their influence still lives, in
the upright actions of their son. Mr. Day was reared on the home farm
in his native county, and as a boy attended the district schools and helped
with the work of conducting the homestead. In 1890 he came west, look-
ing for broader opportunities, and arriving at Duluth, Minnesota, decided
to remain there, and for two years was employed in a furniture factory of
that city. In June, 1893, he left Duluth and came to Hibbing, and asso-
ciating himself with the mercantile firm of O'Leary & Bowser of New
Duluth he established a branch house at Hibbing under the name of
( VLeary, Bowser & Day, with quarters on Pine street. While he was not
the first merchant in the new village, he was among the first. The store
he opened was on the site of the present Merchants & Miners State
I tank, at the corner of Pine street and Third avenue. The firm occupied
half of the store building owned by James Gandsey, the latter occupying
the other half with a stock of groceries. O'Leary, Bowser & Day car-
ried a stock of men's furnishings and some dry goods. In 1895 the firm
bought the lot at what is now 208 Pine street and erected the present
building, which they occupied. In about 1896 O'Leary and Bowser sold
their interests to Frank Halvert, and the firm became Day & Halvert,
which association was maintained for two or three years, when Mr. Day
bought out his partner and has since continued alone, having been at his
present location for twenty-five years.
Mr. Day has taken a constructive part in the wonderful development
of Hibbing, participating in all of the movements from its birth to the
present time. When he came here it was but a little settlement of but a
944 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
civil engineering, but also gained much practical experience by an absence
of several months at a time in railroad construction work.
In 1904 Mr. Acton joined the Illinois Central Company's engineering
department as instrument man in the construction of their lines in the
Mississippi Delta in the state of Mississippi. He was with the Illinois
Central about nine months and then became resident engineer of railroad
construction for the Southern Railway in Mississippi. His service as an
engineer in the south was terminated in the late fall of 1906 by reason of
his having contracted malaria.
Returning to Minnesota and after regaining his health he entered the
employ of the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway as
engineer on location and construction, and continued that work for the
company about five years, until 191 1.
Mr. Acton has had some technical and engineering connections with
the good roads activities of Minnesota for ten years. From 1911 until
January 1, 1917, he was with the State Highway Department as division
engineer on the location and construction of highways. At the latter date
he took up his present work as engineer of roads for St. Louis County,
and as such has his offices in the courthouse in Duluth.
Mr. Acton is a member of the Minnesota Surveyors and Engineers
Societv, the Duluth Engineers Club, is a member of the Commercial Club,
Rotary Club, Duluth Boat Club, Ridgeway Golf Club, Y. M. C. A. and
Geneva Lodge No. 196, A. F. and A. M. October 11, 1906, he married
Miss Lorena Young, of Columbus, Mississippi.
Oscar G. Lindberg has been a resident of Duluth and environs for
over a third of a century, and for many years has been active in business
affairs at Hibbing, where he is now a member of the real estate and
insurance firm of Dyer & Lindberg.
He was born in Sweden July 18, 1875, and was eleven years of age
when in 1886 the family came to the United States. The parents were
Abraham and Maria Lindberg, who located at Duluth. The father died
in 1918 and the mother in 1907. Three of their five children are still
living. Oscar G. Lindberg attended school in his native country, also at
Duluth, but at the age of fourteen went to work and for five years was
in the service of Dr. Charles Slaughter of Duluth. Incidental to his other
work he took up the study of medicine in the doctor's office, but abandoned
the intention of becoming a physician. For three years he clerked in a
drug store, later went on the road as a traveling salesman, and in 1911
came to Hibbing and was president of the wholesale liquor house of the
Mesaba Wholesale Liquor Company until the liquor business was abol-
ished. For two years he was in the automobile business, but since April,
1918, has given his time to the firm of Dyer & Lindberg. This firm has
handled many of the real estate deals at Hibbing, South Hibbing and
the farming district of St. Louis County. They sold about four hundred
and fifty lots in South Hibbing.
Mr. Lindberg was elected a member of the Village Council in 1917
and served one year. He is a Republican, affiliated with the Improved
Order of Red Men and the Elks, is a director of the Commercial Club
and attends the Catholic Church. On November 18, 1903, he married
Minnie Lana, of Duluth.
John Runquist has been building railroads in the northwestern coun-
try for over thirty years. He is one of the principal railroad contractors
whose home and headquarters are at Duluth, and altogether he has been
a factor in the good citizenship of this community for thirty-three years.
Mr. Runquist was born in Sweden in 1862, and was reared and edu-
cated in his native country. In 1885 he came alone to America and em-
JOHN RUNOUIST
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 945
ployed his modest capital and experience as a fanner at Hastings, Minne-
sota. He left the farm to become a foreman for the Chicago, Burlington
& Quincy Railroad while a branch of that line was being constructed in
northern Dakota. He left the Burlington to take a similar post with the
Great Northern Railroad, and for three years was a foreman at different
points along that system. In 1887 Mr. Runquist came to Duluth, and
for the following twelve years was foreman of construction on the
Duluth and Iron Range. Since 1898 he has maintained an independent
organization for railroad building and contracting, and handled some
important contracts at the beginning for the Duluth and Iron Range and
later for the Duluth and Mesaba Railway. He has also constructed and
improved streets, made sewers, and handled other municipal contracts in
the Morgan Park district of Duluth. He built the Duluth and Mesaba
street car line, has done much contracting for the Great Northern Rail-
way, and a large part of his facilities are now employed in road building
in a number of the northern counties of Minnesota.
Mr. Runquist is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and
Shriner, also an Elk and a Republican in politics.
William H. Day. No community can be sounder than the men who
control its commercial life, for upon their energy and integrity rests the
stability of existing institutions. Todiave lived for years in one locality,
and during that period conducted a concern with high-minded purpose,
supplying the demand, and expanding with the growing needs of the
populace, indicates an ability which is deserving of commendation. Wil-
liam H. Day, the oldest established merchant now in business at Hibbing,
is a man who has every reason to be proud of his long and successful
career, and his fellow citizens accord to him a respect his honorable
policies have won.
William H. Day was born at Plattsburg, Clinton County, New York,
August 8, 1864. His parents, Cyrus and Mary (Robinson) Day, were
farmers, and for generations both families have resided in the United
States. Both parents are now deceased, but their influence still lives, in
the upright actions of their son. Mr. Day was reared on the home farm
in his native county, and as a boy attended the district schools and helped
with the work of conducting the homestead. In 1890 he came west, look-
ing for broader opportunities, and arriving at Duluth, Minnesota, decided
to remain there, and for two years was employed in a furniture factory of
that city. In June, 1893, he left Duluth and came to Hibbing, and asso-
ciating himself with the mercantile firm of O'Leary & Bowser of New
Duluth he established a branch house at Hibbing under the name of
O'Leary, Bowser & Day, with quarters on Pine street. While he was not
the first merchant in the new village, he was among the first. The store
lie opened was on the site of the present Merchants & Miners State
Hank, at the corner of Pine street and Third avenue. The firm occupied
half of the store building owned by James Gandsey, the latter occupying
the other half with a stock of groceries. O'Leary, Bowser & Day car-
ried a stock of men's furnishings and some dry goods. In 1895 the firm
bought the lot at what is now 208 Pine street and erected the present
building, which they occupied. In about 1896 O'Leary and Bowser sold
their interests to Frank Halvert, and the firm became Day & Halvert,
which association was maintained for two or three years, when Mr. Day
bought out his partner and has since continued alone, having been at his
present location for twenty-five years.
Mr. Day has taken a constructive part in the wonderful development
of Hibbing, participating in all of the movements from its birth to the
present time. \\ nen he came here it was but a little settlement of but a
946 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
few inhabitants. There were no sidewalks, no light or water plants, in
fact nothing in the way of improvements except those made by the per-
sons buying land and putting up small buildings. He has witnessed th-3
changes'of more than a quarter of a century, and during that period the
meager beginnings have been transformed into the Hibbing of today. Mr.
Day has been an integral factor in effecting these remarkable changes. In
the early days of Hibbing he served as town clerk, and subsequently has
been on the School Board. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity,
and was a charter member and one of the organizers of Forest City Lodge
No. 143, K. of P.
In 1908 Mr. Day was united in marriage with Amanda Shellman, of
Fergus Falls. Minnesota, and they had one daughter, Elizabeth Jnger.
Mrs. Day died July 11. 1911, and was deeply mourned not only by her
family but a wide circle of friends. Mr. Day is a man who has always
understood the fundamentals of commercial life, and possessed the will
and resourcefulness necessary to develop to the utmost his opportunities.
He is not only a prosperous man, but he has always given bountifully of
his means and time to the advancement of his community and has en-
deavored to support those ideals and standards which go to make the real
American citizen.
John Shambeau. Success in the highly specialized field of life insur-
ance is perhaps the best tribute that can be paid to one's commercial
qualifications, since it involves necessarily the highest personal integrity
and intelligent enterprise. A striking success in this line has been
achieved by John Shambeau, who came to Duluth a dozen years ago and
is now general agent for northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin
representing the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company.
Mr. Shambeau was born at Two Rivers, Wisconsin, October 20, 1876.
He came to Duluth June 10, 1908, to engage in the life insurance business
as general agent for the above named company. Hp to that time the
Massachusetts Life Insurance Company had practically no insurance in
force in St. Louis County. It was a virgin field so far as this old com-
pany was concerned. Mr. Shambeau and a partner under the firm name
of McXally & Shambeau went to work and in a few years had demon-
strated the quality of their enterprise and their untiring vigor in writing
insurance, and their agency came to be considered the largest and most
active life insurance agency in the city in point of volume of insurance
written and maintained. In 1920 the partnership arrangement was dis-
solved, and since then Mr. Shambeau has assumed sole charge of the
Duluth agency, which covers the territory of all of northern Minnesota
and northern Wisconsin. At the same time he has associated with him
several very active insurance men, and they are assisting him in main-
taining the very creditable record established by the agency in the past.
Mr. Shambeau since coming to Duluth has identified himself with the
best interests of the city and the citizens, was a member of several patri-
otic organizations during the World war, and was one of the organizers of
the New Lion Club, a civic organization composed of some of the finest
types of Duluth American citizenship. He is also a member of several
other clubs and commercial and fraternal organizations.
James A. Starkweather made a definite choice of a career as an
educator when a young man. For all the financial sacrifice that such a
choice imposes he has compensating satisfaction and honors during the
nearly twenty years he has devoted to his work in the schoolroom and
in administrative offices. Mr. Starkweather has been connected with the
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 947
school system of Duluth for the past four years and is assistant super-
intendent of schools.
He was born at Divernon, Illinois, December 30, 1876, son of Daniel H.
and Sarah (Utt) Starkweather, the former a native of Illinois and the
latter of Kentucky. Old records show that the first American Stark-
weathers were established in Boston as early at 1640. Professor Stark-
weather's grandparents drove an ox team and rode in a covered wagon
all the way from Vermont to Jersey County, Illinois, where they were
pioneer settlers. His maternal grandparents were Kentucky pioneers.
Mr. Starkweather's father is still living and is one of the oldest resi-
dents of Sangamon County, Illinois, in which is located the state capital,
Springfield. His life has been expressed in substantial industry and posi-
tive and earnest convictions and influences that tend to elevate the stan-
dard of living in American communities. For twenty-one years he served
as justice of the peace in his township and for twenty-four years on the
district school board. His business has been that of farming. He cast
his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln and has never deviated
from Republican principles. Perhaps his greatest interest has been his
religious life and for many years he has been a leader in the Baptist
Church of his community and has helped establish three other Baptist
Churches in the county. Mr. Starkweather of Duluth says: "My earliest
recollection of father is that of his early rising Sunday morning when
we all prepared to drive five miles, often through mud hub deep, to the
Sunday School."
Next to the youngest in a family of four children, all of whom are
still living, James A. Starkweather had the environment of a southern
Illinois farm during his boyhood and attended country schools. At the
age of eighteen he entered the Academy of Shurtleff College at Alton, and
in six years he completed the equivalent of four years' high school and
four years' college work, graduating valedictorian of his class in 1901 and
with the A. B. degree. From Shurtleff College he entered directly into his
chosen vocation, taught at Albion, Illinois, and in September, 1902,
removed to Kalamazoo, Michigan, and was identified with the school life
of that city fifteen years. He was a teacher in high school, then grade
school principal, and finally junior high principal. While at Kalamazoo
he continued his studies through vacation periods, and in June, 1917, was
awarded the Master degree at Columbia University, New York.
Mr. Starkweather was called to Duluth as principal of the Lincoln
Junior High School in September, 1917. About a year later, in Novem-
ber, 1918, he was chosen for special work for the United States govern-
ment in the Department for Rehabilitation of Soldiers, and continued in
that work during the months immediately following the war. In August,
1919, Mr. Starkweather assumed his present duties as assistant superin-
tendent of schools.
He is a member of Ionic Lodge of Masons at Duluth, the Curling
Club, the Commercial Club, the Ridgewood Golf Club, and in politics is a
Republican.
Fred B. James is a pioneer of Ely. His name and activities have been
closely associated with every constructive phase in that community's
progress. He has done his share as an independent business man and also
as a public offilcial. He is the present city assessor of Ely. He entered
that office in 1916, and the responsibilities of his office have greatly in-
creased during his administration, the best index of which is the fact that
the assessed valuation of property in Ely has increased during that time
from $1,939,000 to $4,984,000.
Vol. Ill — 2
948 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. James was born in Cornwall, England, September 30, 1866, son
of Charles F. and Amelia (Harvey) James, the former a native of Corn-
wall and the latter of London. His father was in the jewelry business at
Truro, Cornwall. When Fred B. James was a child the family came to
America and settled at Evansville, Indiana, later at New Harmony, Indi-
ana, and from there removed to Decatur, Illinois, where Charles James
died in 1888, at the age of seventy-three. After his death most of the
family removed to Chicago.
Fred B. James acquired his early education at New Harmony, Indiana.
At the age of fifteen he began an apprenticeship to learn the painter's
trade with his uncle, S. C. James, at Evansville. As a journeyman or
contractor Mr. James was in the painting business altogether for a quar-
ter of a century. His business experience had a wide range, including
work and residence at St. Louis, in the Dakotas and at Chicago, and he
first came to the Ranges of northern Minnesota with his uncle, H. R.
Harvey. H. R. Harvey was a distinguished character in the mining dis-
trict, having had charge of the exploration work on the Ranges during
1873-1889 and also performed preliminary services before the opening
of the Zenith and Pioneer Mines at Ely.
Fred B. James first came to the Ranges in 1886, and lived here until
1892. The following eight years he spent in North Dakota and four years
in Chicago, and in 1904 returned to Ely, where he resumed his business
as a painter and contractor. Mr. James helped survey the townsite of
Ely, also to build the first house, and signed the petition for the incorpora-
tion of the village. He was for three terms a member of the City
Council. A public service to which he was greatly devoted was the five
years he spent as state game warden. In the discharge of his duties he
traveled all over the Lake district. Mr. James is regarded as a competent
authority on all the historical events that have transpired in this section
of the Range country. He is a Republican, and his family are Catholics.
In 1891, in North Dakota, Mr. James married Alice L. Cadieux,
daughter of Louis Cadieux. Her mother was a McCluskey, a niece of the
first American cardinal, McCluskey. Louis Cadieux came from France,
while his wife was born at Toronto, Canada. Mr. and Mrs. James have
six children. Fred C. was with a Minnesota regiment on the Mexican
border in 1916, and after helping train four outfits he went overseas to
France with Battery A of the 125th Field Artillery with the rank of top
sergeant. He was near the battle front when the armistice was signed.
He is now in the electrical supply business at Escanaba, Michigan. The
second child of Mr. James is Mercedes, wife of Albert Prisk, of Ely.
John H. lives at Ely. Alice is the wife of H. C. Liffingwell, of Minne-
apolis. Marjorie and Natalie, the youngest, are still in the home circle.
Hon. Hugh Fawcett, a representative from Duluth in the Legisla-
ture, has been a resident of the city nearly forty years, and independently
or working with others has been identified with a large and important
plan of building construction, including many of the prominent features of
the city's architecture both of the modern and pre-modern period.
Mr. Fawcett was born in England August 17, 1861. He is of English
Puritan ancestry, and his father was also a leading contractor, living at
Blackburn, where the family had resided for several generations. Hugh
Fawcett came to America alone in 1881, and for six months was em-
ployed as a carpenter, a trade he learned in England, at Toronto, Canda.
In 1882 he moved to Duluth, and has ever since been engaged in some
phase of the building business. For two years he was foreman for John
Waddell, and then became associated with the firm of Watenvorth & Fee,
contractors, during the construction of the Lincoln School and the Duluth
fi^uLaJi. iccuj^^tr
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 949
Central High School. Following his work on these school buildings he
was engaged as superintendent of construction by the Duluth Board of
Education in 1890. Under his superintendency were erected the Adams,
Monroe, Jefferson, Webster, Bryan and Fairmount Schools. He resigned
as superintendent of construction to engage in the contracting business
with Mr. H. Pearson, under the name Pearson & Fawcett. To this firm
are credited the building of the Public Library and a number of large
structures in the city. Since the dissolution of the partnership Mr. Faw-
cett has continued business alone, and has developed a highly expert and
adequate organization for handling the best class of building contracts.
Much of his work has continued in school building construction, and the
record includes the high school, county building and grade school at
Two Harbors, the Courthouse at Hibbing, the Public Library at Buhl,
the High School at Tower, and many of the modern structures on
Superior street in Duluth. The present program on which his organiza-
tion is engaged includes the erection of two school houses, the Franklin
and the Liberty, at Duluth, and a grade school at McKinley, Minnesota.
For a number of years Mr. Fawcett's business headquarters have been in
the Mesaba Block in Duluth.
An able business man, known as an organizer and executive, Mr. Faw-
cett had every qualification for good work in the Legislature. He was
elected and has served during the 1919-21 session in the House of Repre-
sentatives from the 58th District. His attitude as a legislator is reflected
in the deep interest in the Compensation Law, the Soldiers' Bonus and the
law regulating cold storage as a factor in the high cost, of living problem,
the theory being that reducing the time for storage would prevent hoard-
ing of products from the markets. He was opposed to the Tonnage Tax.
Mr. Fawcett is affiliated with Palestine Lodge No. 79, A. F. and A. M.
On November 13, 1883, in the Baptist Church of Duluth, he married
Miss Emily King, whose people came from England. She has been
greatly devoted to her home and family through all her married life.
Four children were born to their marriage, Emelia, William, Fred and
Gilbert. Emelia is Mrs. William Killgore, living in the Bergman Flats.
William died of typhoid fever. Fred is foreman of bricklayers in his
father's organization. Gilbert is private secretary to a railway executive
in California. All the children were given high school educations.
Charles Zalmon Wilson has been identified with the citizenship of
Duluth and St. Louis County for only half a dozen years, but had long
training and increasing responsibilities in the service of the United States
Steel Corporation elsewhere, and his special qualifications as a mercantile
manager were the reasons for his selection for an important post under
that corporation in the Duluth district.
Mr. Wilson was born at Scottdale, Pennsylvania, November 25, 1876,
being the youngest of a family of six children, four sons and two daugh-
ters. His father, Perry B. Wilson, was a man of great strength of char-
acter and benevolent disposition, was a cooper by trade in the days
when the work of that craft was done exclusively by hand, and was
regarded as a genius in that line. He was of Scotch parentage and was
born February 20, 1834, and died September 8, 1913, when nearly eighty
years of age. He had lived for forty-five years on Walnut Hill, a beau-
tiful home a mile east of Scottdale. During the Civil war he served as a
volunteer of the 85th Pennsylvania Volunteers, enlisting in Company K
of that regiment under Captain H. Zalmon Ludington (for whom his
son was named), and Colonel Joshua B. Howell, on November 6, 1861.
Among the battles in which he participated were the siege of Yorktown ;
. Williamsburg, May 5, 1862; Bottom Bridge, May 20th; Fair Oaks, May
950 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
21st; seven days retreat, June 26th-July 1st; Fredericksburg, December
13th; White Hall, December 17th; Blackwater and Savage Station. In
one battle the small finger on his left hand was shot off, and he con-
tracted rheumatism that disabled him for work the rest of his life. He
was honorably discharged on a surgeon's certificate of disability February
17, 1863. November 15, 1892, the family was presented with his war
record as an object lesson of patriotism. This record is an easel monu-
ment now highly prized by his son, C. Z. Wilson.
Perry B. Wilson married Sarah Clark April 26, 1863. She was born
in County Down, Ireland, June 24, 1843, coming to this country when
nine years of age. She died February 20, 1907. Her memory is cherished
as that of a good mother, industrious in the home, and she constantly
derived pleasure for herself by helping others and through her interest in
church duties. Of the six children of these parents a daughter, Elmeda
B. Wilson, died at the family residence on Walnut Hill November 6,
1916, at the age of forty-three. A son, Harry_ C. W'ilson, who was prom-
inent in business and social affairs, died at Greensburg, Pennsylvania,
luly 30, 1917, survived by his wife and one grown daughter. The living
"members of the family are : Mrs. Elizabeth Heney, of Scottdale ; Abram
C, superintendent for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Pitcairn,
Pennsylvania, married Ida M. Flack and has a family of seven children ;
Chester R., engaged in the hardware, automobile and insurance business
at Avonmore, Pennsylvania ; and Charles Z.
Perry B. Wilson in politics was a Republican. Throughout western
Pennsylvania he .was well known for his loyalty to party and his broad
knowledge of public affairs. He was never known to miss casting his
ballot at all elections, and at times got out of a sick bed to be driven to
the polls.
Charles Z. Wilson was deprived of the opportunities of a college edu-
cation, but attended the little country school on Walnut Hill, where he
gained knowledge of the fundamentals of reading, writing, spelling, gram-
mar, arithmetic, geography, history and physiology. He had abundant
opportunity to work, and industry, together with the courage to dare to
do, have perhaps been the chief features of his success in life. During
school vacations he worked in coal mines. On completing his common
school education at the age of sixteen he received a county school super-
intendent teacher's certificate, with a high percentage, though on account
of his youth he was unable to qualify as a teacher. This led him to
apply for work in a grocery store, and he began driving a delivery wagon,
later was promoted to clerk in the same store at $20 a month, and before
the year was out he joined A. Overholt & Company's general store at
West Overton, Pennsylvania, the same locality, by the way, in which the
late steel magnate, Henry Clay Frick, was born. While there Mr. Wilson
gained a general knowledge of all lines of merchandising, and after the
day's routine of duties he did book work for the firm at night. This was
the sphere of his activity until he resigned to go to war, enlisting with the
10th Pennsylvania Infantry at the beginning of the Spanish-American
war. He was rejected because he was under weight, and a month after
leaving the store he entered business for himself, buying the shoe stock
of Byrnes Brothers on Pittsburgh street, Scottdale. He handled this en-
terprise very successfully for two years, then sold out to Charles Herbert,
of Scottdale, and began what has proved a long and uninterrupted service
with the United States Steel Corporation. He was first assigned to the
general store at Hazlett, Pennsylvania, ten months later was commis-
sioned with the duty of opening a store at Alverton in that state, and
after getting the business properly stocked and organized and in a little
less than a year was again transferred to a new store at Marguerite, Penn-
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 951
sylvania. Here a beautiful new building and equipment was turned over
to Mr Wilson, and for four years he was in full charge, his ability, natural
and acquired 'by experience, then securing his promotion to Bridgeville,
near Pittsburgh, where he opened two new stores for the corporation, and
successfully managed them for thirteen years.
On leaving Bridgeville to come to Duluth, the Carnegie Signal Item
of December 30, 1915, published the following leader article: "C. Z.
Wilson, an employe of the United States Steel Corporation for seventeen
years, has been very highly honored for his faithful services bv being
appointed to a responsible position for the same company at Duluth. Mr.
Wilson came to Bridgeville twelve years ago from Scottdale, a son of the
late Perry B. Wilson, who was a member of the 85th Pennsylvania Volun-
teers in the Civil war. C. Z., as he is familiarly known, had charge of
the mercantile interests for the Union Supply Company at Sygan, Penn-
sylvania. His personality, honest, upright dealings in business with all
classes of pepole had won for him the real friendship of everyone in the
Millers Run district, and all are sorry to see him leave. Mr. Wilson will
be missed among the poor, as he was always mindful of looking after
the sick and needy. Enthusiasm with proper direction and keen interest
in all matters of business and otherwise gained success for him during the
twelve years of service in our neighborhood. It would be considered
selfish to not wish him well in his new field, knowing full well that he is a
man to make friends wherever he goes. Mr. Wilson was school director
of South Fayette township and re-elected at the last election by the
largest vote cast for any one candidate on the ticket. The editor has had
the pleasure of visiting Mr. Wilson several times at Christmas and see
him handle the hundreds of children and grown people that it was the
custom for years to make happy at Chritsmas with the treat furnished
for the purpose by the Union Supply Company."
In November, 1915, Mr. Wilson reached Duluth for the purpose of
taking charge of the Lake View Store at Morgan Park. In half a dozen
years he has achieved something worthy of a long memory in St. Louis
County. Through his management of the Lake View store at Morgan
Park he has gained a wide and admiring following of friends. He pos-
sesses an inspiring personality, never failing geniality, patience, tolerance
and charity, and firmly believes that no man is big enough to be independ-
ent of others. In less than a year after coming to Duluth he supervised
the building, planned and purchased the entire equipment and stock of
merchandise for all departments, systematized the plan for operating and
organized a sales force for handling the business. This is now an institu-
tion known throughout the state, and people come from far and near to
learn the systematic operation of the store, where well trained employes
and discipline give efficiency in every department. As a merchant Mr.
Wilson caters to the patrons' requirements, anticipates his merchandise
wants well in advance, and has a thorough knowledge of merchandise and
market conditions. Traveling salesmen have frequently expressed them-
selves in praise of this Minnesota merchant because of his congenial and
diplomatic manner of handling all matters pertaining to a store. Though
a very busy man, everyone is extended a courteous welcome to his private
office. He realizes one important definition of a successful executive,
being prompt in decision and quick in action, and through experience
makes few mistakes. When his word is given it is as good as a Govern-
ment bond. He is happy and cheerful, and this quality of his disposition
radiates over everything and everyone with whom he comes in contact.
Faithful to every trust and duty, by strict application to business for many
years he has realized a very high standard of efficiency and also a broad
952 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
knowledge of the complicated problems involved in successful merchan-
dising.
Mr. Wilson is active in social and fraternal affairs, thoroughly public
spirited, and a worker for everything that makes a better community. He
is affiliated with Lafayette Lodge No. 652, F. and A. M., at Carnegie,
Pennsylvania ; Gourgas Lodge of Perfection of the Scottish Rite at Pitts-
burgh, Aad Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Duluth, was one of the organ-
izers and charter members of Duluth Forest No. 47, Tall Cedars of
Lebanon, a member of the New Duluth-Gary Commercial Club, Morgan
Park Club and Good Fellowship Club of Morgan Park. He is a member
of the Presbyterian Church of Duluth, his letter having been transferred
from the Bethany Presbyterian Church of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, a
short time after he moved to Duluth.
During the World war he was active in promoting all movements in-
cluded in the Government plan of prosecuting the war to success. He
was appointed United States food administrator as merchant representa-
tive of the Food Administration for the Morgan Park Division for Duluth,
including Smithville, Fond du Lac, Gary and New Duluth. The Duluth
Evening Herald said: "Mr. Wilson's appointment was due to the way
in which he had been carrying out the ideas of the Food Administration.
On his own initiative he undertook educational work and prepared in-
struction letters which he sent out to the people in his section. His work
has been both patriotic and efficient, Food Administration officials declare."
At Cumberland, Maryland, October 16, 1903, Mr. Wilson married
Daisy Dean McDowell, of Pleasant Unity, Pennsylvania. The home of
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson is at 126 North Boulevard, Morgan Park. Mrs.
W'ilson is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank McDowell. Her father up
to the time of his death in 1900 was a professor in Indiana schools. Her
mother makes her home at present with Mrs. Wilson.
Peter L. DeVoist is a man of wide business experience, not only in
general commercial operations but particularly in the timber industry.
He has handled the timber operations of a number of corporations in the
Range country of northern Michigan and Minnesota, and is in charge of
that department for the Mesaba-Cuyuna Iron Land Company, with offices
in the Sellwood Building at Duluth.
Mr. DeVoist, who is of Huguenot descent, was born in New York
state January 12, 1857, and was about thirteen years of age when he
came west to Michigan. He finished his education in that state and there
for twelve years was in the mercantile business. From there he came to
Duluth and became chief clerk in the timber department of the Oliver
Iron Mining Company. For a time he was an employe in a mercantile
house at Duluth, and then became superintendent of the Mashek Lumber
Company at Chisholm. Since 1918 he has been in charge of the mineral
and timber lands of the Mesaba-Cuyuna Iron Land Company and has
arranged for the leasing of valuable properties on the iron ranges.
Mr. DeVoist was married December 31, 1890, to Miss Ida E. LeDuc,
of Michigan. Her father moved to Michigan from Quebec, Canada, her
mother being of German descent.
John E. Porthan is a merchant and is manager of the Finnish
Stock Company of Ely.
This company was organized in March, 1899, to do a general merchan-
dise business. Its organizers were John E. Porthan, Andrew Watilo and
Eric Lund. Their joint capital was only thirteen hundred dollars. The
business has grown and expanded, and the company is now one of the
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 953
most prosperious of those performing a mercantile service in the Range
district. The company owns its fine storeroom and warehouses.
John E. Porthan was born in Finland in 1871. He acquired his edu-
cation in Finland and was unable to speak a word of English when he
reached the United States in 1890, at the age of nineteen. His first loca-
tion was at Lead in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where for six
months he was a railroad laborer. In February, 1891, he arrived at Ely
and went to work in the Chandler Mine. For the next eight years his
was a process of earning and saving, a growing knowledge of American
life and ways, and a broadly extending acquaintance with the men of his
district. Thus he was well qualified to prosecute to success the business
of which he has been manager since 1899.
Mr. Porthan also served as a member of the City Council at Ely for
four years. He is a member and one of the trustees of the Finnish
Evangelical Lutheran Church, is a member of the Finnish Society K. R.
and the Temperance Society.
In 1893 he married Edla M. Kinnari, also a native of Finland. They
have a large family of eight living children. Their son George E. joined
the Third Minnesota Regiment in 1917, was trained at Camp Cody, New
Mexico, and thence sent with six hundred replacement troops to France
in June, 1918. He was in the battles of the Aisne and the Argonne
Forest, and wounds received at the battle front caused his death Feb-
ruary 3, 1919. He had been transferred from the Third Minnesota to
Battery B of the Artillery and later to the Infantry. Another son, Matt,
was a member of the Students Army Training Corps at the State Uni-
versity.
Alfred S. Diehl is a graduate engineer from the University of
Wisconsin and left the university to become identified with the Oliver
Iron Mining Company. In the service of that great corporation he has
risen to the' post and' responsibilities of chief engineer of the Hibbing
district.
Mr. Diehl was born at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, October 30, 1877, son
of Samuel and Annie (Dorner) Diehl. His parents were both born in
this country of remote German ancestry. Samuel Diehl was a machinist
by trade and during the greater part of his active life was employed
in railroad work. He died in 1890 at the age of forty-two.
One of four children, Alfred S. Diehl was thirteen years old when
his father died. In 1894 he graduated from high school at Elroy, Wis-
consin, and almost immediately had to secure work and from boyhood
has depended upon his own exertions and has relied upon himself to
realize his plans and ambitions. Up to the age of twenty-one he worked
at whatever employment offered the most money and the most oppor-
tunity. In 1898 he went into the United States railway mail service,
and continued therewith for five years. Realizing that this service offered
no advancement for a future worth while, he resigned and used what
capital he had been able to accumulate to put him through the University
of Wisconsin. In 1907 he graduated in the civil engineering course and
already had become identified with the Oliver Iron Mining Company.
During the summers of 1905 and 1906 he was connected with the engi-
neering department of that company at Coleraine, Minnesota. A few
months after graduating Mr. Diehl returned to Coleraine in August,
1907, and was on the engineering staff of the company in different capac-
ities until 1912, when he was appointed chief engineer of the Canisteo
District. In May, 1920, he was transferred to his present duties as chief
engineer of the Hibbing District.
954 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Diehl is a member of the Engineers Club of Northern Minnesota,
and also the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers.
He is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of the Congregational Church
and a Republican voter. On August 24, 1915, he married Miss Bonnie
Jones, of Coleraine, Minnesota.
Frank Augustine Wildes of Hibbing, well known in the Range
country both as a lawyer and mining engineer, has spent most of his
life in Minnesota and was a teacher before he began the practice of law.
He was born at Phippsburg, Maine, May 28, 1871, son of Frank A.
and Emily Virginia (Burke) Wildes. Both his father and his maternal
grandfather fought as soldiers on the Union side during the Civil war.
His ancestry goes back to England but the family was planted in the
Colonies of Massachusetts and Maryland, and some of the family were
represented by soldiers in the Revolutionary war.
Frank A. Wildes attended the common schools of Minnesota, and
after graduating from the State Normal School of Mankato in 1894
pursued the vocation of teaching for a number of years as a superin-
tendent of public schools. In the meantime he took up the study of
law, and in 1904 received the LL.B. degree from the University of Minne-
sota. Since coming to the Range country much of his work has been
done in organizing and developing the Mineral Lands Department of
the state of Minnesota, and he has served as superintendent of mines
in that department.
Mr. Wildes is a director of the Minnesota Federation of Architects
and Engineers Society, is a member of the Engineers Club of Northern
Minnesota, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engi-
neers, belongs to the Bar Association, the Hibbing Commercial Club, the
Hibbing Kiwanis Club, and to the University of Minnesota Alumni Asso-
ciation. Mr. Wildes is an honorary thirty-third degree Scottish Rite
Mason, served as master of Mesaba Lodge No. 255 at Hibbing in 1913,
and was venerable master of Iron Range Lodge of Perfection No. 8
at Hibbing from 1909 to 1912. He is a member of the Shrine and
Acacia Fraternity. Politically he is a Republican.
On September 7, 1909, at Hibbing, he married Edith Lany Bush,
daughter of Hezekiah and Helen M. (Childs) Bush. Her father was a
Civil war veteran. Mrs. Wildes, who is a graduate of Carleton College,
is the mother of one daughter, Helen Virginia Wildes.
Allan R. Macaulay. One of the leading business men and best
known citizens of Duluth is Allan R. Macaulay, manager of the firm of
Logan and Bryan, dealers in stocks, bonds and grain, with offices in
Duluth, and all principal cities in the United States and Canada.
Mr. Macaulay has succeeded in his business because he has been persist-
ent and energetic and honorable in his dealings with the public, and
he has therefore had the confidence and good will of all, which are
indispensable factors if one succeeds in any line where the public has
to be depended upon.
Allan R. Macaulay was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on April 24, 1886,
and at the age of two years was brought to the United States by his
parents, who located in Duluth. His father first became a partner in
the Messick Commission Company, under the firm name of Messick &
Macaulay, which association lasted for eight years. He then formed a
connection with the Victor Commission Company, with which he re-
mained identified until 1912, when he retired and is now living in Duluth,
at the age of fifty-eight years. He is the father of six children, all of
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 955
whom are living and of whom the subject of this sketch was the first
born.
Allan R. Macaulay received his educational training in the public
schools of Duluth, having reached the Junior High School. After leaving
school he started to work for the North American Telegraph Company
as a messenger boy, and afterward learned telegraphy. He then turned
his attention to baseball, in which he became a professional player, first
around Duluth and then in the Western Canadian League, with which
he played for two years, or up to 1913, as second baseman and outfielder.
He then again took up telegraphy, working for the Associated Press
Until 1917, when he engaged in the stock brokerage business with the
firm of R. W. Harrington, with whom he remained about a year. He
then organized the Culbertson-Macaulay Company, dealers in stocks,
bonds and grain, Mr. Culbertson being later succeeded by *M. Bliss Rob-
inson, under the style of Robinson-Macaulay Company, and they con-
tinued in this business until 1920, when Logan & Bryan opened their
office here, with Mr. Macaulay as manager. Mr. Macaulay has been
deeply interested in the growth and development of Duluth, having
assisted in the promotion of various business enterprises. He is also
one of the promoters of the Inter-Southern Oil and Refining Company.
Politically he is a Republican, while fraternally he is a member of the
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (Blue Lodge and Chapter), the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Clan Stewart. He
is also a member of the Kiwanis Club, the Duluth Curling Club and the
Duluth Boat Club. His religious membership is with the Presbyterian
Church.
On June 15, 1914, Mr. Macaulay was married to Marie Smith, the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alex Smith, of Superior, Wisconsin, in the
public and high schools of which city she received her education. To
them have been born two children, namely: Jane, born March 9, 1915,
and Donald, born on April 7, 1918. Mr. Macaulay has been distinctively
a man of affairs, wielding a wide influence among those with whom he
has been associated, ever having the welfare of his community at heart
and doing what he could to aid in its advancement. Sound judgment
and keen discrimination have characterized his business actions, and he
enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him.
C. Ray Pattinson. Among the recent acquisitions of the realty
business at Duluth is C. Ray Pattinson, who during a short but remark-
ably active and progressive career has advanced steadily to a leading
position among the younger generation of operators of the city. He was
born July 31, 1886, at Duluth, a son of Charles D. Pattinson.
Charles D. Pattinson was born at Carlisle, Cumberland, England,
and as a young man came to the United States, where he first found
employment in the locomotive shops at Pittsburgh. Later he turned his
attention to railroading, which he followed for about thirty-five years.
He operated one of the first trains that ran into Duluth on the Northern
Pacific Railroad, at that time the old St. Paul & Duluth, and was the
first yardmaster for the Northern Pacific at the West End yards and
helped lay the foundation for the terminal at that end of the city. He
took up his permanent residence at Duluth in 1908, but is now retired
from active pursuits and resides at the Metropole Hotel, being seventy-
six years of age. Of the five children two daughters and a son still
survive, the daughters having been formerly teachers in the public
schools of Duluth.
956 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
The youngest of his parents' children, C. Ray Pattinson secured his
education in the public schools of Duluth, and after graduating from
the Central High School went to work for the Duluth Water and Light
Company. There his industry, ability and fidelity gained him promotion
to the office of assistant secretary, but in 1917 he resigned this position
and entered the real estate business with Prindle & Company, a concern
with which he remained two years. When Earl E. and Harold H. Pat-
tinson, sons of the late W. H. Pattinson, returned from service in the
United States Navy, C. Ray Pattinson joined them, March 1, 1919, in
the formation of the Pattinson Realty Company, which operates the
Pattinson Estate, representing about $1,000,000 worth of property in
the Twin Ports, and also handles other rentals for apartment houses and
represents several insurance companies. During the first year of its
business life this concern transacted about $1,500,000 worth of business,
the largest sale being that of the Lyceum Theatre Building to the Clin-
ton-Meyers Company for a consideration of $325,000. Mr. Pattinson
was one of the promoters of the Pioneer Improvement Company for the
purpose of building an apartment house on East London Road, an
enterprise which will be completed within another year. He was like-
wise the promoter of the Duluth Office Men's Association, of which he
was elected president, an organization consisting of about 200 profes-
sional and office men. He has belonged to the Masons since 1906 and
has attained the Scottish Rite degree, and belongs to the Lions Club as
a member of the Board of Directors. His religious affiliation is with
the Episcopal Church and his political tendencies make him independent
in his support of candidates and principles.
Mr. Pattinson was married April 14, 1911, to Miss Gladys Rees, of
Pittsburgh, whose parents were natives of Wales, her father being a
veteran of the Civil war. Prior to her marriage she had been a stenog-
rapher in the employ of the United States Steel Corporation.
F. D. Orr for upwards of forty years has been doing business in the
mining districts and ranges of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, pri-
marily in the sale of explosives used in mining operations. For many
years past he has been manager of the Duluth headquarters of the DuPont
industries.
Mr. Orr was born in Oneida County, New York, January 26, 1857.
His grandfather came to this country from Ireland. The father, Charles
Orr, was also born in New York, was a mechanic by trade, and died
in 1874. He was the father of three sons and two daughters, and all
but one of the sons are still living.
Second in this family, F. D. Orr was reared and educated in the
east, and was about seventeen years of age when his father died. He
then went out to live with an uncle on a farm at Northfield, Minnesota,
attended school for a time, and for five years worked in a cheese fac-
tory. In 1881 Mr. Orr went to Cleveland, Ohio, and after a brief serv-
ice as clerk in a store was sent to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,
selling townsites for an iron company.
He left the townsite business to become salesman for the Atlantic
Dynamite Company, selling explosives in the Gogebic Iron Range. That
was the beginning of the business which he has followed ever since.
Many years ago he entered the service of the DuPont Company. While
the name DuPont is most familiarly associated with powder and other
explosives, yet is, as a matter of fact, synonymous with a diversified
industry comprehending a tremendous range of products, including
explosives, chemicals, coated textiles and other materials and commodi-
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 957
ties. Since 1914 Mr. Qrr has been manager of the Duluth office of the
DuPont Company in the Hartley Building. Through this office more
explosives are sold than in any other office of the DuPont Company,
and thus Mr. Orr has a special post of honor and consideration with
this great American industry. As an auxiliary of the Duluth service
there is maintained a special fleet of motor trucks for the expeditious
and prompt handling of explosives required on the iron ranges.
Mr. Orr has been a resident of Duluth for many years and takes
much pride in the city and is closely identified with civic organizations,
including the Duluth Commercial Club, the Northland Country Club,
the Kitchi Gammi Club and the Duluth Boat Club.
Henry John Merdink is a capable lawyer at Ely, where he has
been in active practice since 1915. Thoroughly equipped and trained
for the legal profession, he is a man of leadership as well in community
affairs, and his devotion to the common welfare has been abundantly
proved since he began his professional career in the Range district.
Mr. Merdink is a native of Minnesota, born at Stephen, June 11,
1891, son of John Henry and Jane (Sangster) Merdink, the former a
native of New York state, of Holland Dutch ancestry, and the latter
born in Scotland. Mr. Merdink's grandfather moved out to Wisconsin
before there was a single line of railway west of Chicago, and home-
steaded land within the limits of the present city of Milwaukee. He
was a farmer, and not finding the land fertile enough he abandoned that
locality and moved to what is now Baldwin in St. Croix County. Sub-
sequently Grandfather Merdink enlisted as a Union soldier, and he died
from wounds received at Gettysburg.
John Henry Merdink grew up on a farm, spent many years as a
practical farmer, and after moving to Stephen, Minnesota, established
a feed and flour mill. He is still living there at the age of seventy, and
his wife is sixty-four. He is a Republican, has been a delegate to vari-
ous conventions of his party, has served as president of the village and
a member of the Council and on the School Board. John Henry Merdink
and wife have three children: Mary J., wife of David L. Eastburn, of
Circle, Montana; George W., a farmer at Stephen, Minnesota; and
Henry John.
Henry John Merdink graduated from the Stephen High School in
1908. Soon afterward he entered the University of Minnesota, pursuing
the literary and law courses, and was graduated in 1913. The same year
he removed to the Range to practice law and for a time was in partner-
ship with Judge R. J. Montague at Virginia. There he was assistant
city attorney and in April, 1915, moved to Ely, where in addition to
a general practice he was city attorney from 1916 to 1920 and also from
1916 has been secretary of the Commercial Club and has had much to
do in making that an effective instrument to promote the commercial and
civic welfare of Ely.
While in school Mr. Merdink was an all-around athlete, and was a
member of the hockey, baseball, football and basketball teams, and at
the university was a member of the track and cross-country teams and
held the state record in the mile run. He was one of the very enthu-
siastic men of St. Louis County in promoting the objects of the Gov-
ernment during the World war. A defect of the eyes prevented his early
enlistment. Subsequently he had the defect cured. In the meantime he
was instrumental in the organization and served as color sergeant of
the Home Guards and as advisor and United States appeal agent for
the local Draft Board. In 1918 he waived deferred classification and
958 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
took the soldiers' oath of allegiance and was ordered and was on the
way to Camp Taylor, Kentucky, to enter the Officers Training Camp
when the armistice was signed. Mr. Murdink is a Republican, a thirty-
second degree Mason and Shriner, and a Knight of Pythias. In June,
1916, he married Bertha M. Dykeman, daughter of E. L. Dykeman, of
Stephen, Minnesota.
Carl Pearson is the active head of Olof Pearson & Son, contractors
and builders at 209-211 Lake avenue, North, in Duluth. This is a
business that represents a high-class specialty in building construction,
comprising an organization of expert and skilled carpenters and cabinet
makers, and prepared to give prompt and efficient service in the best
classes of repairing and remodeling as well as all general carpenter work.
The founder of the business was the late Olof Pearson, who was born
in Sweden and came to America alone in 1884. After several years in
the eastern states he went out to North Dakota in 1888, and had the
management of a large farm for a time. In 1890 he engaged in the
building and contracting business under his own name, working alone
three years, then one year with a partner, again alone for himself at
19 Second avenue, West, for about five years, and then moved to 207
West First street. Olof Pearson died in 1916. He married Fredericka
Bowman, and had eight children, five of whom are still living.
Carl Pearson was born at Duluth, March 15, 1894, had a public
school education and as a boy worked for his father and acquired pro-
ficiency in all branches of carpentry and building. At the age of eighteen
he went with another firm for a year and a half, then moved away from
Duluth for two years, and on returning to the city joined his father
in the firm of Olof Pearson & Son, and that organization and title he
still maintains. The business employs about twenty expert men and has
proved itself thoroughly competent in the handling of contracts.
Mr. Pearson is a Republican voter. On August 5, 1916, he mar-
ried Miss Lillian E. Olsen. Her father, John Olsen, came to America
in 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Pearson have one daughter, Marjorie W., and also
one son, Robert H.
William C. Toben, sales manager of the Certain-teed Products Corp-
oration at Duluth, has been identified with this concern since 1915, and
has contributed materially to the success of a concern which now manu-
factures about one-third of the roofing and building paper used in the
United States. Mr. Toben was born at 209 Third avenue, East, Duluth,
September 15, 1889, a son of Bernard and Emma (Sugg) Toben, natives
respectively of Illinois and Wisconsin. Bernard Toben has been a resi-
dent of Duluth for about thirty-three years, during the major portion
of which time he has been a retail dealer in meats. He still survives at
the age of fifty-nine years, his wife being fifty-six years of age. They
had seven children, William C. being the second in order of birth.
William C. Toben received good educational advantages in his youth,
and is a graduate of the Duluth High School, the University of Califor-
nia and the Houghton School of Mines. At the age of twenty years he
embarked in civil engineering, which he followed as a profession for
three years, the next two years being spent in association with his father.
During the trouble on the Mexican border he served one year, and
on his return joined the Certain-teed Products Corporation. He was
with this concern until he enlisted in the United States Army, infantry
branch, in April, 1918, and was assigned for instructive work at Camp
Lewis. After eleven months in the service he received his honorable dis-
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 959
charge and' returned to the Certain-teed Products Corporation, and was
appointed sales manager January 14, 1920, a position which he has since
filled with excellent ability.
The Certain-teed Products Corporation was organized by George
M. Brown of Saint Louis in the year 1904, under the name of General
Roofing Manufacturing Company, a name under which it continued for
about twelve years, during which time it had grown to be the leading
manufacturer in roofing and building papers in the United States. The
organization consisted at that time of thirty-six sales offices and forty-
two warehouses. During this time the company confined itself to the
manufacture of the highest grade of prepared roofing, the principal parts
of the manufacture of which were the making of a rag felt and the
proper saturation and coating thereof with a correct blend of asphalt.
In 1916 the company was reorganized as the Certain-teed Products Corp-
oration, and to its line of roofing and building papers added a complete
line of paints and varnishes. The number of sales offices have been in-
creased from thirty-six to thirty-nine, and forty-six warehouses are now
being operated. These warehouses and sales offices are located all over
the United States. During the period of its operation the company has
grown from the very smallest in its line to a point where at the present
it is manufacturing about one-third of the roofing and building paper
sold in the United States. The company established a sales office and
warehouse at Duluth in May, 1915. This office has always been located
in the Sellwood Building, and the present location of the warehouse is
at 122 East Michigan street. The Duluth office was opened, under the
direction of L. R. Walker of Saint Louis, by J. R. Pflueger.
Mr. Toben joined the Delta Tau Delta fraternity during his college
days, and is a member of the Knights of Columbus. His religious faith
is that of the Catholic Church. On February 14, 1920, he was married
at Minneapolis to Miss Gladys Millen, a daughter of John G. Millen.
Herbert S. King. During the past thirty years several members
of the King family have had an important share of the technical work
and official administration of the mining districts of northern Minnesota.
One of them, Herbert S. King, had a long and intensive training in
mining affairs here and is now superintendent of the Chandler Mining
Company of Ely.
He was born at Negaunee, Michigan, September 2, 1887, son of
Henry and Rachel (Gordon) King. His parents were Canadians from
the Province of Quebec, lived in Michigan for a number of years, and
in 1892 removed to the Mesaba Range, locating at Virginia. Henry King
has been connected with steam shovel operations in the mining district
and has been employed by nearly all the iron companies here. He is
now sixty-four and his wife fifty-four. Both are devout Presbyterians
and he was an official member of the church for a number of years. They
had a family of three sons and two daughters. Alexander, the oldest, is
a highly trained technical man in mining affairs, being a graduate of
the Minnesota State University and the Colorado School of Mines, and
is now superintendent of the Holman Mine of the Oliver Iron Mining
Company. Lillis King is the wife of Ray Fitzgibbons, of Monroe, Wis-
consin. Myrtle R. is a kindergarten teacher at Duluth and formerly
taught at Virginia. Ellard G. was a member of the Hospital Corps in
France, and while on the battle front was gassed, and the Government
is, % now enabling him to complete his education in the University of Cali-
fornia at Berkeley.
960 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Herbert S. King was about five years old when the family moved
to Virginia, and he graduated from the schools of that city at the age
of eighteen. He then became a clerical worker in the office of the New
York State Steel Company at Virginia, remaining there two years, and
for four years did clerical work at the Commodore Mine at Virginia.
Since 1911 he has been in the offices of the Chandler Mining Company,
has made a thorough study of the business, and his quick comprehension
of responsibilities has brought him various promotions. For several
years he has been a member of the Board of Directors and since Janu-
ary, 1921, has been superintendent of the company.
Mr. King interests himself in various matters affecting the welfare
and progress of his community. He is one of the trustees of the Pres-
byterian Church, is a Republican and is a master of Ely Lodge of
Masons.
November 18, 1908, he married Miss Ruth Trimble, daughter of
B. M. Trimble. Mrs. King was born at Virginia and she and Mr. King
attended high school together. For two years she has been a member
of the Ely School Board. They have four children : Kathleen, David,
Audrey and Nancy.
Itasca Bazaar Company. The largest mercantile business on the
Mesaba Range, handling a general stock of dry^ goods, clothing, women's
ready to wear garments, millinery and house furnishings, is the Itasca
Bazaar Company, a strikingly successful mercantile enterprise, due to the
extraordinary energy and ability of a woman, Mrs. D. M. Power, who
has created and built up the store and is still its vital executive head.
A small dry goods and house furnishing establishment was organ-
ized at Hibbing under the name of The Bazaar in 1897 by Mrs. Dottie
M. Power. By 1911 she had acquired a controlling interest in the Itasca
Mercantile Company, and in 1913 became its sole owner. In the mean-
time, in 1911, the two stores had been combined as the Itasca Bazaar
Company, a name that has been continued. In 1920, owing to the
moving of old Hibbing, a new building was erected as an appropriate
home for his mercantile establishment at Third avenue and Howard
street. It is a two and a half story brick building, 100x125 feet.
Mrs. Power, who deserves all the credit for this interesting example
of commercial enterprise, was born in New York City and was a child
when she went west to Sands and later to Gladstone, Michigan, with her
parents, Thomas and Mary (Flynn) O'Connell. She graduated from
St. Joseph's Seminary at Marquette, and in 1896 was married to
W. J. Power of Hibbing.
Walter J. Power was born at Copper Harbor, Michigan, March 29,
1879, and is son of a distinguished lawyer and brother of Victor Power
of Hibbing, noted elsewhere in this publication. Walter J. Power was
educated in the public schools of Escanaba and Calumet, read law under
his father, and was admitted to the bar and has been in practice at Hib-
bing for over twenty years. He was associated with P. H. Nelson in
organizing the Merchants and Miners State Bank of Hibbing, and for
a year or so served as president of that institution.
Emil J. Zauft. To few men do various Minnesota counties owe
more for a practical demonstration of substantial and effective building
than to Emil J. Zauft. Skill, energy, resource and continual advancement
are levers in the constructive machinery of this master builder. He has
the natural pride of the true artisan, especially of one who uses his worth
to create, and who must needs be surrounded by his work in the future
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 961
and hear on all sides the estimate placed thereupon by the community.
Mr. Zauft was born at Waukesha, Wisconsin, was reared on a farm
at Baraboo, that state, and when sixteen years of age began an appren-
ticeship to the carpenter's trade, at the same time gaining a high school
education. When twenty-one years of age, in 1889, he came to West
Duluth and for three years worked as a journeyman carpenter. After
that he began jobbing in a small way and since then has steadily advanced
in his vocation, making his work of lasting good to the community. He
operates extensively in the building of schoolhouses and county court
houses in the state of Minnesota, as well as in Wisconsin, and among
the buildings to his credit are the Young Men's Christian Association
structures at Duluth and West Duluth. His offices are maintained at
No. 5613 Grand avenue.
During the early days of the village of West Duluth he was a mem-
ber of the Volunteer Fire Department and had command of the local
hook-and-ladder company. He served five years as a member of Com-
pany G, Minnesota National Guard, and held the rank of sergeant when
the company was disbanded. Mr. Zauft was one of the organizers of
the West Duluth Commercial Club, of which he was elected president
in 1916, is a member of the Duluth Commercial Club, the Duluth Boat
Club and the Duluth Rotary Club, and is president of the Duluth Build-
ers' Exchange. In 1914 he was president of the Minnesota Builders'
Exchange. He assisted in the organization of the Western Curling
Club and each year has appeared with a prize-wining rink at the North-
western Bonspiel. He has served as chancellor commander of Duluth
Lodge No. 123, Knights of Pythias, and twice has held the office of
noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
In 1901 Mr. Zauft was united in marriage with Miss Florence Felt,
whose father was one of the pioneer settlers of Superior, Wisconsin.
George H. Lounsberry. On the basis of proved achievement and
accomplishment, the name of George H. Lounsberry is synonymous with
building construction in and around Duluth. As a general contractor
he has been in business many years, and probably no other contractor
can exhibit a better proportioned list and group of important building
work than Mr. Lounsberry.
He was born at Fairmont, Minnesota, April 29, 1869. a son of
Colonel C. A. and Victoria (Hoskins) Lounsberry. His father was a
native of the state of New York and his mother of Michigan. Colonel
Lounsberry has long been a prominent man in the northwestern country.
He was postmaster and at one time publisher of the Tribune at Bis-
marck, North Dakota, and about 1885 helped established the News
Tribune of Duluth. For many years past his home has been in the state
of Washington, where he does special land agent work and is now sev-
enty-six years of age. Of his five children four are living.
The second oldest of the family, George H. Lounsberry acquired his
early education in a seminary at Bismarck, North Dakota, but has been
practically earning his own living since he was ten years of age. As a
boy he carried messages and papers, and at the age of seventeen began
an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade. He worked as a journeyman
seven years, and at Duluth entered building construction work with
George Smith, under the firm name of Lounsberry & Smith. This part-
nership continued four years and since then Mr. Lounsberry has been
in business alone as a general contractor. Since August, 1916, his
business offices and headquarters have been in his own building at 322
962 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
East Superior street. He is a master of details of every phase of the
building industry. He has assembled a large force of competent and
skilled workers, and has a large amount of capital invested in equipment
of every kind for the handling of some of the very largest contracts
involved in building construction. He has erected some of the largest
building blocks in Duluth, and a number of years ago carried out con-
tracts involving upwards of a million dollars in the construction of houses
of the "Model Town" of the United States Steel Corporation, has built
bridges and many public buildings, including U. S. Grant and Park Point
school houses, the telephone building at Duluth, and many others. Ten
years ago Mr. Lounsberry helped organize the Yerna Brick Company,
and is vice-president of that industry.
Fraternally, he is affiliated with the various branches of Masonry,
including everything up to the thirty-third degree of the Scottish Rite.
He is a member of the Commercial Qub and the Builders Exchange
and is a Republican in political affiliations.
At Duluth July 15, 1896, he married Miss Margaret Harrington,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Harrington, who came from Ireland.
Four children have been born to their marriage : Paige Lounsberry, born
in 1898; Harlow, born in 1903; Sylvia, born in 1906; and Jessica, born
in 1910. The younger children are still attending school at Duluth, while
Paige, the oldest, after completing the work of the Duluth schools, fin-
ished his education in Culver Military Academy in Indiana and is now
associated with his father.
D. H. Lonergan is a highly qualified expert in all the complications
of mortgage loans, rentals, real estate and insurance, and with knowledge
he combines an exceptional energy that has brought a tremendous volume
of business and effective enterprise to his organization.
Mr. Lonergan was born at South Bend, Indiana, July 29, 1886, and
began his business career practically as a wage earner. His parents
were James A. and Phoebe (Smith) Lonergan. His father for the
greater part of his life has been a landscape gardener for Notre Dame
University at South Bend, and is still living at the age of seventy-six.
Of his four children three are living, D. H. being the eldest.
He attended the parochial schools of South Bend, and at the age
of fourteen was earning his living and acquiring business training as
clerk in a dry goods store. Later he learned the trade of molder, which
he followed for seven years. Leaving his trade, he has engaged in the
ral estate and loan business, and had an experience in that line for seven
years before coming to Duluth. His specialty is real estate exchange,
and from a small beginning he has developed a volume of business
amounting to a million dollars annually. Some of the largest business
properties and most expensive residences have been handled by him
and he has shown a remarkable capacity to bring buyer and seller
together. While practically all his business is now concentrated at
Duluth, he also operated at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, for several years.
Mr. Lonergan is married and has one daughter. Helen Phoebe.
William James Mudge. Few men cultivate more intensively the
opportunities of life than William James Mudge has done. Possessed
of an eager mind, an industrious disposition, an aspiring ambition, he
has worked faithfully where circumstances have placed him and has
prepared himself for other duties beyond and has had a most interesting
range of experience and achievement.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 963
Mr. Mudge, who is now superintendent in charge of the South
Chandler Mine in Ely, was born at Beeralstone, Devonshire, England,
July 25, 1862, son of William and Mary (Channon) Mudge. His mother
was also a native of Devonshire, while his father came from County
Kent and was an under captain in the Russell United Mines of Devon.
During his early manhood he also performed a mission as a special
agent of the British Government in the United States.
William James Mudge acquired his preliminary education at Gun-
nis Lake and took his grammar school work at Tavistock in Devon.
When he was twelve he joined the British Navy. His grammar school
education was finished while working on an eight-hour shift in the
mines. His mining experience covered several of the English mining
districts and when he first came to the United States he worked in
the mines at Mount Hope, New Jersey, and also in the copper mines at
Calumet, Michigan, and the silver mines at Park City, Utah. For a
time he was also engaged in construction work with the Flagler Railroad
on the coast of Florida.
Having in the meantime seen much of the world, Mr. Mudge returned
to England and for a year or so applied himself to the study of lan-
guages, science and theology, and fitted himself for the ministry of the
Bible Christian Church, becoming an evangelist. During a period of
three years as a means of self support he also worked in the Russell
United Mines and in other mines.
On his second trip to the United States Mr. Mudge located at Negau-
nee, Michigan, and for sixteen years was identified with that mining
district, holding among other positions that of head shift boss. During
the past twenty years his work as a miner has been in northern Minne-
sota. As a mine captain he opened the Hawkins Mine at Nashwauk
in 1901. Under his superintendency the LaRue Mine was opened in
1903 and the Adriatic Mine at Mesaba in 1906. Since 1919 his duties
have been as superintendent of the South Chandler Mine at Ely.
In Devonshire Mr. Mudge married Mary Prout Hawkins Chapman.
She died while they were living at Nashwauk. Of their five children
four are living: Mrs. P. H. Hubbard, of Ely, whose husband is a con-
ductor on the Iron Range Railroad ; William, general foreman at Bab-
bitt; Stanley Howard, now at Eveleth, who enlisted early in the war
with Germany, was in service for twenty-two months in the Philippines,
and received his discharge as an invalid; Norman E., who was in the
Students Army Training Corps at the State University, and is in the
insurance business; and Eugene, who died at Nashwauk in childhood.
In 1908 Mr. Mudge married Miss Ada Chapman, a sister of his first
wife.
Mr. Mudge is a Christian who makes his religion part of his daily
life. He is a devout Methodist, a teacher of the Bible Class and Sunday
School and of a men's class each Sunday afternoon. For some time
he has made it a practice to read the Bible through every year. He is
a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite and York Rite Mason and Odd
Fellow.
Mr. Mudge has performed much public service since coming to
Minnesota. While at Nashwauk he was clerk of the School Board
and clerk of the Township Board, served as president of the Town
Board at Mesaba for seven years, was president of the School Board
of District No. 13 for six years, for four years was president of the
County School Board, and for one year was president of the State Board
of Education. Recently he was appointed special judge at Ely.
Vol. Ill— 3
964 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
George E. Lehman. There are some people who express surprise
at the very remarkable development which has taken place in the Mesaba
Range, resulting in the creation of one of the finest little cities in the
world at Hibbing, and yet when a roster is compiled of the men who
are living in this part of St. Louis County the keen observer realizes
that this expansion is but the logical outcome of such an aggregation of
citizens, to whom progress comes as a matter of everyday endeavor. One
of these energetic and dependable men who has accomplished much dur-
ing the eighteen years he has been a resident of St. Louis County is
George E. Lehman, district road engineer for the Seventh Commission
District of the County. •
Born at Negaunee, Michigan, June 14, 1878. he is a native of the
north country. His parents were William and Elizabeth (Heppe) Leh-
man, both of German nativity, but residents of the United States from
childhood. William Lehman is still living, although eighty-six years old,
and resides at Negaunee, but his wife is deceased. His chief work in
life was accomplished as a carpenter. During the war between the north
and the south he served in the Union army from Missouri.
George E. Lehman was reared in his native city, and after attending
its common and high schools became a student at the Northern State
Normal School at Marquette, Michigan. For six years subsequent to
the completion of his studies, he was a school teacher in Michigan, but
afterward became a civil and mining engineer, and with the idea of
securing employment in his professional capacity he came to Hibbing,
and for eighteen months was timekeeper for the Oliver Mining Com-
pany, during which time he secured an acquaintance which justified his
establishing himself in a general practice as a civil and mining engineer,
and continuing in it until 1916, when he received his present appointment
from the Board of Commissioners of Saint Louis County. His duty is
to have charge of the road work and bridge work of his district, and
through him much has been accomplished for this region. He is a thor-
oughly experienced man and capable of discharging the onerous respon-
sibilities of his office in a highly efficient manner and at the least cost
to the taxpayers.
Mr. Lehman is independent in his political affiliations. He belongs
to the Episcopal Church. The Masonic fraternity holds his membership
and he also belongs to the Commercial Club of Hibbing, the State Engi-
neers and Surveyors Society and the Northern Minnesota Engineers Club.
In 1911 Mr. Lehman was united in marriage with Miss Mary Isabelle
Neely, of Negaunee, Michigan, and they have three children, namely:
Isabelle, Ray and Janet. Possessed of strong personality and extraordi-
nary abilities, he has won the confidence of all of his associates and has
become the moving spirit of his district in securing and completing pub-
lic improvements. »
C. L. Burmax. One of the oldest established sheet metal concerns of
Duluth is that of C. L. Burman, the business title at present being Bur-
man & McGill, at 1625 West Superior street. Mr. Burman has been a
resident of Minnesota for upwards of thirty years and has spent most
of his active life as a sheet metal worker.
He was born in Sweden October 1, 1869, and was reared and edu-
cated in his native country. In 1891, at the age of twenty-two, he came
to the United States, joining his grandfather in Minnesota. He soon
located at St. Paul, and was employed there in the sheet metal trade for
five years. For a short time after that he was located in Montana, and
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 965
at three different times, during 1892, 1894 and 1898, was in the service
of George Ralph, in a party of state engineers engaged in surveying
work in northern Minnesota. On moving to Duluth Mr. Burman en-
tered the sheet metal business and since 1908 has been contracting indi-
vidually. On March 25, 1919, he took in Mr. McGill as a partner, under
the firm name of Burman & McGill. Their establishment is at 1625 West
Superior street, and they have equipment for handling all classes of sheet
metal work and the business of heating and ventilating engineers.
Mr. Burman is independent in politics and is affiliated with the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. In December, 1902, he married Miss
Lemberg. They have three children : . Ethel, Mildred and Carl, all of
whom are students in the public schools of Duluth.
Ralph Fiscketti is a popular business man of Duluth and has been
well known in the city for the past twenty years.
He was born in Italy October 25, 1875. and came to America in
1900, locating among relatives and friends at Duluth. His people had
preceded him to this country by several years. Mr. Fiscketti learned the
cabinet maker's trade in the old country and after coming to Duluth
worked in a sash and frame factory three years, was with the Baxter
Sash and Door factory and also was a journeyman carpenter. He was
a very skillful man at his trade and competent for all branches of work.
Eventually he got into business for himself as proprietor of a lunch
stand at 529^ Superior street, and has since given all his time to the
business of feeding the public.
In 1898 he married Miss Agnes Belfatto. They have three children:
Henry G., born in 1910; Lucy, born in 1912, and Gelde.
B. W. Hintz is active head of the Hintz-Cameron Company, whole-
sale and retail dealers in flour, feed, hay, millstuff, field and garden
seeds. Mr. Hintz has been in this business at Duluth for over ten
years and prior to that had a widely varied commercial experience both
here and in other cities of the country.
He was born at Mansfield in Freeborn County, Minnesota, January
17, 1883, son of August and Louise (Jost) Hintz. His father, a native
of Germany, came to America alone about 1850 and spent a long and
active career as a farmer in Minnesota at Mansfield. He died in 1894.
Of his large family of thirteen children nine are still living, B. W. being
the youngest.
B. W. Hintz attended school at Mansfield, also acquired a portion
of his education in Duluth, and at the age of nineteen left the farm to
go to work for Morris & Company, meat packers. He was with that
concern three years, and for six months was an employe in the Beaver
Falls, Pennsylvania, branch house of Armour & Company. Then return-
ing to Minnesota he was connected with the Duluth Cigar Company
three years, and on March 21, 1909, engaged in the feed business at
114 East Michigan street. He has been in that one locality and in
the same business ever since, but the volume of his trade and busi-
ness has had a tremendous expansion. The Hintz-Cameron Company
handle the products of the Albert Dickinson Company in Duluth, and
distribute the products of various other mills and manufacturers.
Mr. Hintz is a member of the Commercial Club, the Elks Club, and
was reared a Lutheran. August 17, 1906, at Minneapolis, he married
Miss Marguerite Mostue, daughter of Louise Mostue, of Duluth. They
have one daughter, Elinor, born April 25, 1916.
966 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Benjamin M. Lippman. There are few men who have been more
closely associated and for a longer time with the commercial life of
the Mesaba Range than Benjamin M. Lippman, now a resident of
Hibbing. >
Mr. Lippman is an American citizen of varied experience, and though
of foreign birth has been assimilated in every way with the life and
ideals of this nation. He was born in southern Russia June 5, 1876, a
son of M. E. and Zelda (Yesner) Lippman. His parents spent most of
their lives in Russia and his father grew up a farmer, later became an
importer and lived on the border line between his own country and Ger-
many, importing goods from Germany and selling in Russia. He had
been educated for a Rabbi and was a man of superior intelligence and
influence. He made several visits to the United States, and his death
occurred in Virginia, Minnesota, in 1916,- and his widow is still living in
that Minnesota town.
Benjamin M. Lippman is one of eight children, four of whom are
still living. His home was in Russia to the age of twenty. During that
time he devoted himself to his studies under the supervision of his tal-
ented father and other excellent instructors. As he grew toward man-
hood he carefully considered the future and his environment in central
Europe and determined that destiny offered him the greater rewards in
another land. Accordingly in 1896 he came to the United States. He
reached here without capital, without a knowledge of language and
customs, and with such handicaps showed remarkable resourcefulness
in finding a way to start and at a time when the country was still slowly
recovering from the results of a panic. At Altoona, Pennsylvania, some
friends credited him with seventeen dollars and a half in trade, and he laid
in a stock of notions and started peddling. That was the real beginning of
his American career. In this way he went on until 1899. and in that year
came to the Mesaba Range in northern Minnesota. He was at Eveleth, but
about three months later established a store at McKinley, and in the mean-
time had assisted his brother Samuel to come to northern Minnesota, and
they were partners in the venture at McKinley. They soon opened another
store at Eveleth, Samuel being in charge of the McKinley stock, while
Benjamin went to Eveleth. Later Benjamin Lippman operated a store
at Cass Lake, Minnesota, for two and a half years. He and his brother
Samuel then established a business at Buhl, and for a time were propri-
etors of three stores, at McKinley, Buhl and Mount Iron. In the mean-
time they had induced another brother, Henry, to cross the ocean, and
it was Henry who was manager of the business at Mount Iron. This
enterprise rapidly grew and in 1905 Benjamin Lippman moved there
to give it his personal supervision. It was on the 14th of February of
that year, and after he had been in America for nine years, that Mr. Lipp-
man married Annie J. Margulis.
Early in 1906 the business of the brothers was divided and Benjamin
moved to Virginia, where he established a store and conducted it three
and a half years, until selling out. In 1909 he moved to Hibbing and
with Charles Hallock founded the Hibbing Department Store on Pine
street. Their partnership was dissolved in 1913, in which year Mr. Lipp-
man established his present department store. He is just completing a
fine brick building in the new town of South Hibbing. to which he will
remove when completed. This building is of brick 100 feet frontage,
125 feet deep and three stories in height, with 37,500 square feet of
floor space. It is strictly modern in every way and when completed
will be the finest department store in northeastern Minnesota. While
he was in Virginia Mr. Lippman established branch stores at Nashwauk
[rr?.r>
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 967
and Hibbing, subsequently selling both these enterprises, as well as
another store which he founded at Hibbing. He is now president of
the Minnesota Dry Goods Company of Virginia, and has one of the
largest and best-stocked department stores at Hibbing on the Mesaba
Range.
Mr. Lippman has for years regarded himself as an American and
all his actions are the best proof of his thorough Americanism. He
naturalized as a citizen as quickly as possible, and no native son is more
ready to support matters involving patriotism and public spirit. During
the World war he enrolled himself as a member of the local Home
Guards, and was honorably discharged when the war was over. On
one occasion during the war he put on a sale conducted by the public as
clerks, giving ten per cent of all the proceeds to the Red Cross. While
he has never aspired to office he was elected municipal judge while at
Buhl. Mr. and Mrs. Lippman have two children, Monroe I. and
Blessing.
L. C. Coffin. The record of Mr. Coffin is that of a man who by
his own unaided efforts has worked his way from a modest beginning
to a position of affluence and. influence in the business world. His life
has been of unceasing industry and perseverance and the systematic and
honorable methods which he has followed have won him the unbounded
confidence of his fellow citizens. L. C. Coffin is a Yankee by nativity,
having been born at Collis, Vermont, on the 27th of November, 1876,
and is the sixth in order of birth of the eight children born to Fessenden
and Sophronia (Lord) Coffin. Both of his parents were natives of
Vermont and both are now deceased, the father dying in 1887. He
was a farmer by vocation and stood high in the esteem of his fellow
citizens.
L. C. Coffin attended the public schools and then was a student in
the Vermont Methodist Seminary at Montpelier, Vermont. At the age
of seven years he had left home and worked on a farm until ten years
old, when he went to Barre, Vermont, and thereafter until twenty-four
years old was identified with the granite industry. In 1904 Mr. Coffin
came to Duluth, Minnesota, and engaged in the music business. Three
years later he founded the Boston Music House, which proved to be
a most successful enterprise and in 1912 the company was incorporated,
with the following stockholders and officers : L. C. Coffin, president and
treasurer; Al Bluett, vice president, and Gusta Rustafson, secretary.
They carry on a general music merchandising business, carrying a
full line of musical instruments, as well as a large stock of music of
every character. By their energetic efforts, sound business judgment and
courteous treatment of their customers this company has grown from a
modest beginning to one of the largest music houses in the northwest,
certainly the largest of its kind at the Head of the Lakes. They also
handle pianos and talking machines and phonographs, and fifteen sales
people are constantly engaged, the sales rooms and stock rooms occupy-
ing the four floors of their building at No. 1820 Lake avenue, North.
On January 1, 1914, Mr. Coffin was married to Mildred Francis, the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Francis, of Lake Linden, Michigan,
and they have one child, Lional, born September 14, 1919. Mr. Coffin
also has a daughter, Velma, by a former marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Coffin
are members of the Pilgrim Congregational Church, to which they give
generous support. Mr. Coffin is a member of the Commercial Club,
the Rotary Club, the Retail Merchants Association, and fraternally is
a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is essen-
968 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
tially a man of affairs, of sound judgment, keen discernment, far-seeing
in what he undertakes, and his success in life has been the legitimate
fruitage of consecutive effort, directed and controlled by good judgment
and correct principles. Because of his success and excellent qualities
of character he enjoys a high standing throughout the community.
William C. Barrett, who has been a resident of Hibbing since the
fall of 1893, is now engaged in an undertaking business and has won
the gratitude of the people of this community for the dignified and
sympathetic service he renders in the time of greatest bereavement.
Mr. Barrett was born at Willsborough Point, Essex County, New York,
on Lake Champlain, August 15, 1857. His father, Peter Barrett, of
Canadian nativity, came to the United States when a child, and lived
in New York the remainder of his life, dying at Sandy Hill, New York.
He married Mary Gordon.
Growing up in his native state, William C. Barrett was given the
advantage of careful training by his watchful parents, and apprenticed
to learn the stone-cutting trade when old enough to do so under his
father, who was foreman in the Lake Champlain Blue Stone Quarry
for years. While he learned his trade, Mr. Barrett's opportunities for
acquiring an education were meagre. When he reached his majority he
came west and located at Norway, Michigan, and for some years was
on the Menominee Range, leaving it for the Gogebic Range, and from
there he went to Ely on the Vermillion Range of northern Minnesota.
At the latter place he was employed in. drilling for a couple of years.
His next venture was the operation of the Oliver House in partnership
with another man, and he subsequently lived for a short time at Mount
Iron, coming from the latter place to Hibbing in the fall of 1893.
When Mr. Barrett arrived at Hibbing the village was but a small
mining camp. Murphy Brothers kept the post office, and W. H. Day,
the Gearys, Dennis Haley, Doctor Rood were a few other of the early
settlers whom Mr. Barrett found at Hibbing. Pine street was the only
business thoroughfare, and the Sellers shaft was the only mining then
started, for the exploration of the Mahoning was just beginning. There
were no churches, but plenty of "blind pigs" were operated in sheds and
tents. Mr. Barrett operated a livery business and represented a brewery
during the first few months he was at Hibbing, but in 1894 embarked
in an undertaking business and has pursued it ever since. His first place
was at the corner of Second and North streets, but later he moved his
business directly opposite and there he remained until December, 1917,
when he secured his present premises.
On June 1, 1893, Mr. Barrett was united in marriage with Mary
Hurley, and they have had five children born to them, namely: Clinton,
Russell, Veronia, Wilfred and Donald. Both Clinton and Russell
answered their country's call during the great war. Clinton was in the
state militia prior to the entry of this country into the war, as a non-
commissioned officer of Company M, Third Minnesota National Guard,
and as such went to the Mexican border in 1916. His command became
the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Field Artillery, Battery B, during
the great war, and he went to Deming, New Mexico, for training. He
was sent overseas in September, 1918, and was five hours' march from
the front when the armistice was signed. Russell was in the coast artil-
lery and received his training in California. In July, 1918, he was sent
overseas and was occupied driving ammunition trucks, and participated
in the Chateau Thiery offensive. He received his honorable discharge
after the signing of the armistice. Both young men returned home
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY . 969
safely after their period of military service and have resumed more
peaceful occupations. It is doubtful if these young men, or any others
who wore the uniform, will ever be unmindful of the needs of the coun-
try they risked their lives to preserve. What is worth fighting for is
worth working for, is certainly true.
Mr. Barrett and his family are members of the Roman Catholic
Church. He is a Republican and has served on the Township Board,
the School Board and the Village Council. The Elks, Red Men, Knights
of Columbus and Kiwanis Club all hold his membership. Having passed
through the pioneer period of Hibbing and participated in its remark-
able development, Mr. Barrett can appreciate the value of the present
conditions better than one of the later arrivals in the community. It
is a source of pride to him that he has borne' his part in bringing about
such desirable changes, and he has great faith in the future of the
Mesaba Range and all of this part of the state, for he knows their
wonderful possibilities.
William Mitchell is an expert mechanic and has been employed
in technical occupations in the mining districts of northern Michigan and
northern Minnesota for the past thirty years. His service in late years
has been of a public nature, as superintendent of light and water at Ely.
Mr. Mitchell was born in Cornwall, England,, January 31, 1871, son
of James and Mary (Tomkin) Mitchell. His father had the training
and experience of the mining district of Cornwall, and in 1879 brought
his family to America, first locating at Kingston, Ontario, and in the
following year moving to Quinnesec, Michigan, and in March, 1884,
was one of the skilled miners recruited by Captain E. J. Marcom for
pioneer mining work at Tower, Minnesota. He was employed in the
Soudan Mine, and died in August, 1886, at the age of forty-four. The
widowed mother survived until 1910, at the age of sixty-five. Of her
children John is a diamond drill expert in the Birmingham District of
Alabama. A daughter, Mrs. H. Grosnick, died in Michigan. Beatrice
is a trained nurse at Washington, D. C. Mrs. Mary Trudell lives at
Worcester, Massachusetts.
WiMiam Mitchell was about thirteen years of age when the family
moved to the Iron Ranges of Minnesota. He had in the meantime
attended school at Quinnesec, Michigan. His first regular employment
and technical training was acquired in the blacksmith shop of the Soudan
Mines. For about a year he did engine work in the Arcadian copper
district of Michigan, and in 1900 came to Ely, where he has been one
of the valued and esteemed citizens for twenty years. For three years
he was employed as timekeeper at the Pioneer Mine, and in 1903 became
engineer for the City Light and Water Plant, and since 1913 has effi-
ciently discharged his responsibilities as superintendent of this plant.
He is a man who knows his business and is exceedingly loyal to his
duties.
Mrs. Isabel Mitchell, his wife, was born at Hammerstburg, Canada,
and was a teacher in the public schools of Ely until her marriage in
1910. They have a living daughter, Margaret, and another daughter,
Frances, died at the age of three. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell are active
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Mr. Mitchell being superin-
tendent of the Sunday School and treasurer of the Church Society.
Politically he is a Republican.
Leif Jenssen, a highly qualified architect who has practiced his
profession in Duluth some ten years, is a member of the firm German
970 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
& Jenssen, whose professional work is exemplified in many of the out-
standing public structures of Duluth and vicinity.
Mr. Jenssen was born in Norway February 16, 1879. He was liberally
educated in his native country and graduated from the Norwegian Poly-
technic Institute. He came to America alone in 1901 and for a time
was employed as a draftsman in New York city. In 1903 he removed
to Chicago and was similarly engaged there until he came to Duluth
in 1909. During the following four years he was in the offices of the
architectural firm German & Lignell. When that firm was dissolved in
1913 Mr. Jenssen became associated with Mr. German under the firm
name of German & Jenssen, architects, whose offices are in the Exchange
Building.
During the past five or six years they have had a large share of the
architectural work of the city and have drawn plans and supervised con-
struction for many prominent residences and business and public build-
ings. Some of the public structures for which they have been architects
are the Washington Manual Training School, Superior High School, the
Lincoln School, the Young Men's Christian Association and Young
Women's Christian Association Buildings and many beautiful residences.
Mr. Jenssen is a member of the American Institute of Architects, and
belongs to the Duluth Engineers' Club and the Architects' Association
of Manitoba. In 1907 he married Miss Larsen, whose people also came
from Norway. They are the parents of three children.
F. Labovitz. Considering the small amount of capital he possessed,
and the difficulties involved in the acquisition of a new language and
new customs and conditions, F. Labovitz has earned his remarkable suc-
cess during twenty years of American residence. He is proprietor of
one of the most successful department stores in Duluth, known as The
Fair.
Mr. Labovitz was born in Roumania August 26, 1874. He was
reared and acquired some commercial experience in his native land, where
he married. With his wife he came to America in 1900, and soon estab-
lished a home in Minneapolis, where for seven years he was in the retail
fruit business. At that time he made much progress in American ways
and customs and amassed a small capital, with which he came to Duluth
in 1907 and opened a stock of merchandise at 516^ West Superior
street. Gradually his business expanded and grew, and after eight years
he moved to a larger building at 221-223 West First street and then
opened the department store known as The Fair. This business has
grown and developed, and its thousands of customers appreciate the
service rendered as a store of large and well selected stock of economical
wares. The business is now one involving an aggregate sales of about
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars annually. Mr. Labovitz has
always depended upon fair dealing to win his customers, and is head of
a business that requires a large clerical force.
He and his wife have three children, Maurice, born in 1900; Roslind,
born in 1902; and Israel M.. born in 1907.
Victor L. Power is undoubtedly one of the best known men in
St. Louis County. He has achieved distinctive success in the law, but
the associations of his name outside of his home town of Hibbing are
largely due to the aggressive fight he has made from time to time in
carrying out and perfecting a public policy for the benefit and improve-
ment of Hibbing while he has been president of the village.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 971
Mr. Power was born at Calumet, Michigan,' April 29, 1881, son of
John and Elizabeth (Corgan) Power. His father, the late John Power,
who died at Chicago May 20, 1920, was for many years a distinguished
lawyer of northern Michigan. A son of Matthew and Bridget (Veale)
Power, the former born in 1802, John Power was born at Waterford,
Ireland, July 13, 1846, and was reared in a home of culture and had
good advantages during his youth. About 1861 he ran away from home
and came to America, and in 1863, by special orders, enlisted as a drum-
mer boy in the Union army in Company A of the Seventeenth New York
Infantry. He was with Sherman's Army on the March to the Sea, and
was twice wounded and served until mustered out June 19, 1865. After
the war he entered the regular army for frontier duty in the Thirty-sixth
Michigan Infantry, with headquarters at Fort Wilkins in the copper
country of northern Michigan. Incidentally he was also made lighthouse
keeper there, studied law, and was elected and served as county school
superintendent. He was admitted to the bar in 1872, and began practice
at Red Jacket, Michigan, where he enjoyed a rising position at the bar
for twelve years, but in 1881 removed to Escanaba, where he continued
his professional work until a short time before his death. He was five
times nominated by the Democratic party for Congress, served as village
and city attorney of Calumet and Escanaba for fifteen years, was county
prosecuting attorney, and in 1894 was appointed and for more than
four years filled the office of Federal district attorney for the western
district of Michigan. For ten years he was a member and president of
the Board of Education of Escanaba, also served as county superintend-
ent of schools of Delta County, and, in the words of a committee of the
Delta County Bar, was "considered one of the leading lawyers of Michi-
gan and was recognized as a versatile trial lawyer and as a successful
and well fortified counsellor. He was prominently concerned in many
important litigations in the State and Federal Courts. He was a man of
great natural ability and was a close student of the law. He was a man
of high ideals and generous impulse. He was ever ready to do his duty
as a public and private citizen. He was a man with many friends and
the possessor of a generous and charitable nature. His natural ability
and his extraordinary diligence as a lawyer were rewarded with such suc-
cess as was possible to achieve. His eloquence as an advocate before the
bar soon attracted attention throughout Michigan and Wisconsin." While
he was performing the duties of lighthouse keeper at Upper Harbor in
1868 he married Miss Elizabeth Corgan, a native of Montreal, Canada.
She died in 1914, the mother of eight children.
Victor L. Power, who was born at Calumet, Michigan, April 29, 1881.
was two years old when his parents established their home in Escanaba,
and later he was sent to Chicago to finish his education. He graduated
from the Irving High School at the age of eighteen and then took special
work in Latin, science and trigonometry in Lewis Institute. Returning
to Michigan, he began his serious career as a checker on the ore docks
at Escanaba, and for a time operated the Clifton Hotel at Marquette.
Mr. Power visited Hibbing in the home of his brother in December, 1899,
and that brief acquaintance gave him such a liking for that district and
its people that he determined to make it his future home. Remaining
here, he was employed as bookkeeper in a store, then as helper on the
diamond drill in and around the village of Chisholm, and he also worked
as a blacksmith's helper for the American Steel & Wire Company in the
Chisholm Mine, which was the only industry on the site of what is now
a flourishing town. The son of a successful lawyer, Mr. Power did not
972 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
definitely determine to follow his father's profession until he had had a
wide variety of commercial and industrial experience. He studied law
in Chicago, in the Kent College of Law, and after passing the bar exami-
nation was admitted on June 4, 1903, and at once returned to Hibbing
and continued his professional education in the University of Minnesota.
He took the bar examination in Minnesota in January, 1904, and for the
past sixteen years has been actively engaged in his profession at Hibbing
and has achieved a high rank as a lawyer.
Of Mr. Power's constructive work in behalf of the Hibbing municipal-
ity only brief reference need be made here. In 1913, during his absence
from the city, he was elected to head a progressive ticket in a campaign
based on a platform for bettering local municipal conditions, particularly
designed to give the village a better lighting system, water power and
other improvements. He was elected village president at the ensuing
election, and while the situation and issues have changed in succeeding
years, he has been elected and re-elected at every succeeding election and
properly deserves much of the credit for the great program of better-
ment that has been carried out in recent years.
Mr. Power is a Republican in politics and has served as delegate to
a number of county and state conventions. He is a member of the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1910 he married Miss
Percy Garner, a native of Manistique, Michigan. She was educated in
the public schools of Manistique and Chicago, and was active in the social
circles of Hibbing. Her death occurred May 15, 1921.
H. C. Meining. Specific mention is made of many of the worthy
citizens of St. Louis County within the pages of this work, citizens who
have figured in the growth and development of this favored locality and
whose interests have been identified with its every phase of progress,
each contributing in his sphere of action to the well-being of the com-
munity in which he resides and to the advancement of its normal and
legitimate growth. Among this number is he whose name appears above,
peculiar interest attaching to his career from the fact that practically
his entire life has been spent in this immediate locality.
H. C. Meining was born in the city now honored by his citizenship on
the 9th day of August, 1878, and is the youngest of the nine children born
to his parents, seven of whom are still living. The father, Louis W.
Meining, whose death occurred in 1897, was a native of Germany, who
came to the United States in the '50s. His first location was in New
York, but shortly afterward he went to Canada, where he engaged in
farming for a time. In 1860 he returned to the United States, locating
in Duluth and engaged in the contracting business. Afterward he went
to the Calumet copper region in northern Michigan, where for seven
years he was employed as foreman of mines. At the end of that time
he returned to Duluth and again engaged in general contracting, which
business he followed until his retirement, several years later.
H. C. Meining received his elementary education in the public schools
of Duluth, after which he entered the University of Michigan, where he
was graduated with the class of 1896. Immediately afterward he enlisted
for the Spanish-American war in Company G, Fourteenth Regiment. Min-
nesota Volunteer Infantry, which was stationed at Chattanooga, where
they remained until November of that same year, when they returned
home. Mr. Meining entered the service as a private, but was discharged
with the rank of a second lieutenant. Upon his return to Duluth he
became a clerk in the office of the Duluth, Mesaba & Northern Railroad
Company, but a year later entered the employ of the Great Northern
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 973
Railroad Company as a stenographer, remaining there about a year. He
then became secretary to President Hill of the Great Northern Railroad,
serving in that capacity for five years. He next went to Sleepy Eye,
Minnesota, and engaged in the flour-mill business, personally superin-
tending the sales department over the entire United States. In 1906
Mr. Meining assumed the operation of the United Flour Mill in Minne-
apolis, remaining there until 1916, when he again returned to Duluth
and engaged in the brokerage business, under the name of the H. C. Mein-
ing Company, with offices in the Fidelity Building. He deals in grain,
flour, feed and hay, and is enjoying a large and constantly increasing
business.
Politically Mr. Meining gives his support to the Republican party,
while his religious faith is that of the Congregational Church. Though
a busy man, and energetic in the advancement of his own affairs, he still
finds time to contribute of his time to those things which tend to advance
the material, civic and moral welfare of the community. Because of these
things and his excellent personal qualities of character he has won and
retains the respect and confidence of all who know him.
M. Bliss Robinson. Well known in the commercial life of Duluth,
M. Bliss Robinson has been in the brokerage business for a number of
years and is now vice president of Robinson-Macaulay Company, grain
and stock brokers, with offices in the Lonsdale Building.
Mr. Robinson was born May 15, 1879, at Wolf Creek, Wisconsin. His
father, the late John Robinson, who died at West Superior, Wisconsin, in
1910, was a pioneer of the Duluth district and widely known all over
this section. He was born in the state of Maine, moved out to Wiscon-
sin in early life, and for a time was connected with a party of Govern-
ment surveyors running lines at Duluth and Superior. In 1889 he engaged
in the hotel business at Duluth and afterward moved to Superior. By
his second marriage he was the father of two sons and one daughter,
M. Bliss being the second in age.
M. Bliss Robinson acquired a common school education at Duluth and
Superior, and at the age of sixteen went to work as a messenger boy
with a telegraph company. Subsequently he learned telegraphy and has
always been more or less identified with that occupation. After five
years as a telegraph operator he began handling a brokerage business at
Duluth, and subsequently organized the Robinson-Macaulay Company.
This company furnishes a local service quoting all the principal transac-
tions of the New York Board of Trade every day.
Mr. Robinson is affiliated with the Elks. On September 1, 1909, he
married Miss Lillian Klinkert.
Claude M. Atkinson. Probably in no other field than journalism
could the original abilities of Claude M. Atkinson discover their proper
sphere and be afforded the proper medium for expression. Mr. Atkinson
as a newspaper man and printer has shared in the instability of members
of his profession, but the fact that for over twenty years he has been
identified with the village of Hibbing and all that time as publisher and
editor of the Hibbing Daily News and The Mesaba Ore is sufficient evi-
dence that he also exemplifies permanent qualifications of citizenship.
Claude M. Atkinson was born at Appleton, Wisconsin, November 4,
1862, son of James Fremont and Anna Frances (Waterbury) Atkinson.
His grandfather, Rev. Edwin Atkinson, was an old-time Methodist circuit
rider. He was born in England, was ordained a minister of the Metho-
dist church in that country and after his marriage came to Canada in
974 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
1836, and when Wisconsin was still a territory and the domain of the
wild Indian he moved there and for a time lived in Dodge County and
later in Outagamie County. James Fremont Atkinson also exemplified
many of the rugged qualities of the family. He was a man of very
diversified talents. As a youth he learned and took up the trade of cabi-
net maker. He was in California during the early days of gold discovery.
Afterward he studied law, operated a store, traded with the Chippewa
Indians in Wisconsin, dealt in real estate and became owner of con-
siderable possessions. It may be that he caught the contagion from his
youthful son, then an apprentice printer, but at any rate in 1877 he
bought the Escanaba Tribune, changing its name to the Escanaba Iron
Port, and conducted it for several years. Through the columns of that
paper he exemplified his pronounced literary attainments. He also served
as municipal judge at Escanaba, and at the time of his death in 1885 was
probate judge of Florence County.
One of three children and the only survivor, Claude M. Atkinson
gained his education largely in a printing office, said to be one of the
greatest universities in existence. Every boy has at some time felt the
fascination of printing, but Claude M. Atkinson acknowledged the fasci-
nation as the dominant fact in his life and career and his individual
destiny has been molded largely in a composing or editorial room. Before
he was twelve years of age and before his father had bought the Escanaba
Tribune he was rendering what service he could to its owners and picking
up a knowledge of printing. Though he was doubtless worth something
to the owners, he was paid nothing the first six months and the second
six months his salary was only fifty cents a week. That did not dis-
courage him, and while at Escanaba he mastered the art of printing and
filled every position in the mechanical offices of the Tribune. In 1879 he
went to Quinnesec, while that was the center of a wild and adventurous
community, and was employed as a typesetter. Subsequently he clerked
in a store at Norway, and also at Quinnesec and at Florence he assisted
his father in several enterprises, including the founding of the Florence
Mining News.
The people of northern Minnesota have long admired the vigorous,
terse and original way in which Mr. Atkinson expresses himself in the
editorial and news columns of his paper. It mav be said that he first
achieved this art of expression while on the Florence Mining News,
though writing was only an incident of his service in the mechanical
offices. After his father's death he became editor of the News, and
subsequently sold it to the distinguished former governor and author,
Chase S. Osborn, who is one of many distinguished men it has been the
privilege of Mr. Atkinson to know in the course of his life.
Like all printers, Mr. Atkinson had the wanderlust and his travels
and work as a journeyman printer led him far and near. Eventually he
returned to Iron Mountain, Michigan, where he worked as printer and
local editor of a paper. Then for about three years he assisted
Mr. Osborn on the Florence Mining News. At Crystal Falls, Michigan,
he founded the Diamond Drill, a newspaper still in existence, though he
sold it after a brief ownership, and was next engaged on some newspapers
in Salt Lake City ; then bought and conducted the Independent at Rock
Springs, Wyoming, for two years, and in August, 1897, came to the iron
ranges of northern Minnesota and for one year was a general utility
man on the Virginia ; then founded the Republican at Eveleth, selling
out after about a year, and in May, 1899, bought the Hibbing News,
which had been established at Hibbing in the spring of 1894, almost at
the beginning of the existence of Hibbing. In 1901, on account of some
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 975
litigation over the title, Mr. Atkinson changed the name to The Mesaba
Ore and Hibbing News, and now conducts both a daily and weekly edi-
tion, known as the Hibbing Daily News and the Mesaba Ore. The Daily
News was established in February, 1920, and is the only morning daily on
the Range.
Mr. Atkinson was originally a Republican, but changed his party soon
after coming to St. Louis County because he could not conscientiously
endorse the actions of local party leaders. Since then he has acted and
voted independently, and has conducted his paper accordingly. When
the conflict on the tax levy and expenditures in Hibbing came about he
espoused the cause of the people. It is his nature never to be a half-way
man, and he is ill fitted for compromise. As a result of his stand and the
stand of the paper in this matter he was indicted presumably because of
the fight he had been making, but was wholly exonerated. Mr. Atkinson
was appointed postmaster of Hibbing in 1906 and was also one of the
first members of the local Library Board.
While for many years he has carried the responsibilities of a news-
paper. editor and publisher and has always been ready either for a fight
or a frolic among his fellowmen and in community affairs, his real heart
may be said to be in the open fields and there is no more enthusiastic
hunter or fisherman in northern Minnesota than C. M. Atkinson. As a
sportsman he has killed silver tip bear, deer, moose, antelope, elk, blacktail
deer, black bear, mountain sheep, mountain lion, and is never happier
than with a gun over his shoulder or in company with his children on
hunting trips. He is a real nature lover and hears and responds to the
summons of running streams and rustling woods, and thus is deeply
religious though a member of no Christian sect.
November 24, 1883, Mr. Atkinson married Ida M. Lott, of Iron River,
Michigan. Of the five children born to their marriage the oldest,
Claudius, is now deceased. The oldest living son is Marc, now general
husiness manager of the Hibbing Daily News and the Mesaba Ore, with
Miss Beatrice Atkinson as society editress and general news reporter.
The two younger children are Dorothy and William.
Kohrt Brothers. The commercial and civic life of Hibbing has been
deeply impressed by the work and personal character of the Khort broth-
ers almost from the beginning of the village's prosperity and progress.
In even older communities than Hibbing it is unusual to find so many
brothers of one family whose work and associations have remained con-
tinuously identified with the community over a long period of years.
The names of the brothers who have lived on the Mesaba Range are
Herman A., now deceased, Christian Frederick, Richard W., Gustav
Augustus, George, William and Ernest. All were born, reared and
acquired their early schooling at Elk River in Anoka County, Minnesota.
Their father, Christian Frederick Kohrt, was born in Germany, was
reared and liberally educated in his native country, served in the war
against Austria and later in the Franco-Prussian war. He decided that
his best interests could be conserved and advanced in a land not domi-
nated by imperialism and military rule. Soon after his release from army
service following the Franco-Prussian war he came to the United States,
was married at Watertown, Wisconsin, and about 1872 moved to Anoka
County, Minnesota. As soon as possible he naturalized and in Minnesota
took up a homestead and went through all the trials and vicissitudes of
pioneer life. He was a man of more than ordinary intelligence and edu-
cation and easily attained and maintained a position of leadership among
the early settlers. For years he served as a member of the School Board,
976 DULUTH AXD ST. LOUIS COUNTY
and his influence was felt in helping other children as well as his own
to better their education. He was also township supervisor and an inde-
fatigable worker in road improvement. In religion he and his family
were Lutherans. He and his good wife lived out their lives in Anoka
County and exemplified in the fullest degree the sturdy, loyal and credit-
able virtues that are the best assets of American citizenship.
The first of the Kohrt brothers to come to the Mesaba Range was
Herman A., who reached Hibbing in the spring of 1900. He was first
employed as clerk in a meat market, and in the fall of that year Christian
Frederick Kohrt, named for his father, joined him here and the two
brothers in 1902 utilized their capital and experience to establish a meat
business of their own. From time to time all of the brothers eventually
came to live in Hibbing. Herman A. married and became the father of
a daughter, and is the only one of the brothers deceased.
No one questioned the loyalty of the Kohrts, although they were of
German parentage, when America entered the war against Germany. Two
of the brothers, Gustav and George, volunteered their services and
received a lieutenant's commission. Gustav was on the Mexican border as
a member of old Company M, and later went to France and was on duty
until the armistice was signed. Lieutenant George was retained in this
country as an instructor at Camp Pike, Arkansas.
Christian Frederick Kohrt has been continuously a merchant at Hib-
bing for twenty years, and his business record has exemplified the quali-
ties of industry, honesty, good citizenship and careful attention to details
that seem generally characteristic of the entire Kohrt family. He married
Mary Florence Keene, and they have five children, named Charles, Esther,
Marquitta, Veronica and Kenneth.
George L. Brozich. A study of the prominent men and activities of
the town of Ely does not proceed far until it encounters the name and
influence of George L. Brozich, who is a successful banker, real estate
operator, former president of the Commercial Club, and a loyal and
interested worker in every phase of his community's progress and
advancement.
Mr. Brozich was born at Schwenberg, Austria, March 12, 1878, son
of George and Katharine Brozich. His father came to America in 1883,
was first identified as a worker with the copper country of Calumet,
Michigan, and in 1890 moved to the Iron Range in Minnesota, being
successively a citizen of Ely, Biwabik and Virginia, and finally home-
steaded land in Koochiching County, Minnesota, where he lived out his
years and where he died in 1919, at the age of seventy-two. George
Brozich, Sr., was appreciative of his opportunities as an American citizen,
became naturalized as soon as possible, and was a man of quiet industry
who earned esteem wherever he lived. He was a carpenter by trade, and
followed that line of work all over the Iron Range, constructing some
of the first houses at Biwabik and Virginia. His widow is still living at
the home of her son George L., who is her oldest child. Her second son,
John Carl Brozich, is superintendent of the Miller Mine at Aurora,
Minnesota, and the daughter, Marie E., is the wife of Jacob Jackshe, of
Aurora.
George L. Brozich was ten years of age when he and his mother came
to the United States to join his father. He had attended school in
Austria and after coming to this country was in school at Calumet,
Biwabik and Virginia. After completing his education he found an open-
ing as an employe of the First National Bank at Virginia. A brief expe-
rience gave him an ambition to become a banker, and in order to fit
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 977
himself for the profession as a life work he resigned and took a com-
mercial law and banking course at St. John's College in Collegeville,
Minnesota, where he spent two years. On leaving college instead of
returning to banking he became interested in merchandising, and for a
year and a half was connected with a mercantile establishment at Colo-
rado City, Colorado, and was then manager of a department store at
Joliet, Illinois, for three years.
Mr. Brozich returned to Minnesota in 1902, and since, that year has
been an active citizen of Ely. He was assistant cashier of the Bank of
Ely until it was consolidated with the Exchange Bank. For five years
his time and enterprise were devoted to the real estate and insurance
business, and he is now president of the Vermillion Realty Company,
which has been reorganized under the title of Superior National Outing
Company. Mr. Brozich had an active part in organizing the First State
Bank of Ely, and as its cashier has been instrumental in making it one
of the leading banks of northern Minnesota.
It was Mr. Brozich who in 1913 was chiefly responsible for the organi-
zation of the Commercial Club at Ely. Also through his efforts this club
became officially a part of the city organization, and a portion of local
taxation is devoted to its maintenance and functions. In and through
this club have been directed the civic energies which have done most for
Ely within recent years. Mr. Brozich was for four years honored with
the office of president of this club. He served two years as a member of
the City Council and two years as mayor, and in many other ways has
been active in public affairs. He was president of the St. Louis County
Club. Mr. Brozich is affiliated with the Rotarians, Foresters and Elks,
and he and his family are Catholics.
In 1908 he married Anna M. Horwat, of Joliet, Illinois. Their three
children are Robert J., William G. and Genevieve Mary.
Abe Feldman. One of the best known of the younger attorneys of
St. Louis County, Minnesota, is Abe Feldman, of Duluth. His life has
been one of hard study and research from his youth and since maturity
of laborious professional duty, and the high position which he has
attained in his profession is evidence that the qualities which he possesses
afford the means of distinction under a system of government in which
places of honor and usefulness are open to all who may be worthy of
them.
Abe Feldman was born in Russian Poland on the 1st day of July,
1890, and is the eldest of the seven children born to Morris and Sarah
Feldman. His father was the first of the family to come to the United
States, and from 1892 to 1896 he was engaged in a mercantile business
at Ironwood, Michigan, from which place he moved to Eveleth, Minne-
sota, where he still resides. In 1896 the mother brought her children to
this country and joined the father at Eveleth, where he is still engaged
in the mercantile business. Abe Feldman received his elementary educa-
tion in the public schools of Eveleth, and then entered the University of
Michigan, which he attended four years, having one year of academic
study and three years in the department of law, where he was graduated
in 1911, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Immediately thereafter
Mr. Feldman entered upon the practice of his profession at Chicago,
Illinois, but soon afterward returned to Eveleth and became associated in
the practice of law with James P. Boyle, a partnership which was con-
tinued until 1914. From August 1, 1914, to January 1, 1915, Mr. Feld-
man served as city attorney of Eveleth. In January, 1915, he came to
Duluth and has been engaged in the practice of his profession continu-
978 DULUT.H AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
ously since that time. By a straightforward, honorable course he has
built up a large and lucrative legal business, his life affording a splendid
example of what a youth, plentifully endowed with good common sense,
energy and determination, may accomplish in America when directed and
controlled by earnest moral principles.
On August 9, 1916, Mr. Feldman was married to Esther Rabinowitz,
the daughter of Frank and Rose Rabinowitz, of Eveleth, Minnesota.
Mrs. Feldman attended the public schools of Eveleth and later graduated
from the Saint Cloud Normal School, after which for several years she
taught school at Eveleth. To Mr. and Mrs. Feldman have been born
three children, Arthur Harold, Shirley Jean and Carolyn.
W. P. Lardxer. In all that constitutes true manhood and good citi-
zenship W. P. Lardner, one of the best known of Duluth's business men.
is a notable example and none stands higher than he in the esteem and
confidence of the community honored by his citizenship. His career has
been characterized by duty faithfully done and by industry, thrift and
wisely directed efforts he has acquired a liberal share of this world's
goods. He is a man of good judgment and pronounced views, and takes
an intelligent interest in all public affairs, especially as pertaining to his
own community, in the growth and development of which he has been
an active factor.
W. P. Lardner was born January 24, 1867, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and
is the eldest of the six children now living who blessed the union of his
parents, three others being deceased. His father, Henry Lardner, who
died at Niles, Michigan, in 1914, was interested in extensive business
affairs for many years, his interests running largely to banking and real
estate. In 1887 he was a partner in the Paine & Lardner Bank in Duluth,
as he was also in its successor, the Security Bank of Duluth, which was
organized in 1889, with a capital stock of $100,000, and of which institu-
tion he was a director. This bank was successfully operated until 1896.
W. P. Lardner received his educational training in the public schools
of Niles, Michigan, and on completing his studies he became connected
With the banking business in that city, starting as a messenger and after-
ward becoming paying teller, which position he held until 1887. He then
came to Duluth and became a partner in the banking firm of Paine &
Lardner, of which he acted as cashier, and also held the same official
position in the Security Bank of Duluth. He then withdrew from the
banking business and turned his attention to life insurance in 1897, con-
tinuing successfully engaged in this business until 1901, when he became
an operator in mineral lands, to which he has devoted himself continu-
ously since. He is also heavily interested in Oklahoma oil lands. He
has handled enormous quantities of these lands, and has been more than
ordinarily successful in his business affairs.
In November, 1887, Mr. Lardner was married in Duluth to Ruhamah
Finley, a daughter of Thomas, Jr., and Lucy Griffin Finley, of Niles,
Michigan. Her grandparents came respectively from New York and
Maryland originally. Mr. and Mrs. Lardner have no living children.
They are members of the Protestant Episcopal Church and Mr. Lardner
is a member of the American Lafayette League. A man .of honest
motives and generous impulses, he has won and retains a host of warm
and loyal friends. While he has prosecuted a special line of business
on his own account, he also belongs to that class of representative citizens
who promote the public welfare while advancing individual success, and
he possesses to a marked degree those sterling qualities which command
uniform confidence and regard.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS 'COUNTY 979
Frank H. Cohoe. Until the present century life presented its oppor-
tunities to Frank H. Cohoe largely in the field of agriculture in his native
province of Ontario. Soon afterward he came to the Range country of
northern Minnesota, and from one responsibility to another has identified
himself with the active operations of iron ore mining, and for several
years past has been general superintendent of the Hibbing-Chisholm
District for the Hanna Ore Mining Company.
Mr. Cohoe was born in Oxford County, Ontario, May 4, 1869, one
of the five living children of Justus and Marion (Farrington) Cohoe.
His father was born in Canada, but his mother was a native of the state
of New York. Growing up on a farm and acquiring a public school
education, Frank H. Cohoe had the sound environment and training of
a country boy, and at the age of twenty-one began his individual career
as a farmer. In March, 1902, he came to the iron ranges of northern
Minnesota and was first employed for a brief time by the Oliver Iron
Mining Company at Hibbing as a sampler of iron ore and also in the
billing of cars. He was next engaged in looking after supplies and doing
clerical work until December, 1903. He sought every opportunity to
improve his knowledge of iron ore, and in December, 1903, came his first
important promotion when he was made surface foreman in the Hull-
Rust Mine of the Oliver Iron Mining Company. In June, 1905, he was
promoted to night foreman of stripping operations in that mine. A year
later he became general foreman in the stripping of the Sellers Mine, and
continued so until November 1, 1912. He was then sent with a picked
crew to strip the Graham Mine at Old Mesaba, a work that continued
during the winter of 1912-13. In April, 1913, he returned to the Burk-
Sellers Mines as general foreman, and in February, 1914, was assigned
work in stripping the Kerf Mine. In August, 1914, he went with the
Arthur Iron Mining Company as superintendent of the Leonard and
Dunwoody Mines. The Arthur Mining Company leased its operating
facilities to the Hanna Ore Mining Company, and Mr. Cohoe worked
with the latter organization as general superintendent, and in that capac-
ity has been retained.
He is a well-known man in the mining circles of the Hibbing District.
He is a Republican in politics, a member of the Algonquin and Kiwanis
Clubs, and was reared in the Quaker church but is not a member of any
religious denomination. At the age of twenty-one he married Miss Elsie
Kelly, of Oxford County, Ontario. They have two children, Awrey W.
and Welby C. Welby was trained in the Aviation Department of the
American Armies, and for the greater part of his service was stationed
at Montrose, Scotland, and completed his training about ten days before
the signing of the armistice.
J. R. Patterson has been one of the energetic business men of the
Head of the Lakes district for the past fifteen years, and is now manager
of the well-known commission house of Paine, Webber & Company.
On coming to Duluth in 1905 he took charge of the contracting depart-
ment of the Duluth & Mesaba Railway. That was his work for four
years, and then after other experiences he became cashier on December
31, 1915, of Paine, .Webber & Company, grain and bond brokers, and
since 1919 has been manager of that firm.
David Reid Black. A successful business is one that performs an
essential service and has a gratifying growth in volume and patronage
from year to year. Measured by such a standard one of the high class
firms of Duluth is the D. R. Black Company, plumbing and heating, an
Vol. Ill — 4
980 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
old established industry. This corporation has been in existence for six-
teen years. Its founder and active head, David Reid Black, has been
identified with his trade and business in this city for over thirty years.
Along with his proficiency and thoroughness in the mechanical detail
of his trade Mr. Black possessed those qualities of the business executive
that enabled him to control and direct an establishment of his own, and
his efficiency is partly due to the fact that he has been depending upon
himself since boyhood. He was born in Scotland. His father, Allan
W. Black, brought his family to America in 1883, coming with six
children. For one year he lived at Milwaukee, then removed to St. Paul,
Minnesota.
David R. Black, fifth among the children, was fourteen years old
when he came to America, and about two years later began doing for
himself. He had a common school education, and he served his appren-
ticeship in the plumbing and heating business at St. Paul. About thirty-
one years ago he came to Duluth, and while he is a citizen of varied social
and civic relationships, his fundamental work from the beginning has
been in the plumbing and heating line. He was manager for Allan Black,
a brother, who had four places of business, one at Grand Forks, one at
Minneapolis, one at St. Paul and one in Duluth. David R. Black man-
aged the Duluth business branch for a time and then took it over, and
it has since been under his individual direction. The D. R. Black Com-
pany was incorporated in 1904 and has handled many large contracts
as well as a great volume of general business in heating, plumbing and
ventilating. The company is located in its own building at 314 West
First street in Duluth.
Mr. Black is a member of the State Society of Sanitary and Heating
Engineers. He is a director and for many years a member of the Duluth
Builders Exchange. He is also a member of the Heating and Piping
Contractors' National Association. Largely through the weight of his
individual experience and business character he has given his company
a prestige and responsibility all over northern Minnesota.
Mr. Black is a member of the Commercial Club, a member of the
Longview Tennis Club, an associate member of Duluth Council Boy
Scouts of America, is a life member of the Elks and a member of all the
Masonic bodies including the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the Duluth
Boat Club and the Kiwanis Club. He was born and reared a Presby-
terian, and in politics is a Republican.
In 1899, at Duluth, Mr. Black married Miss Flora J. Louden, only
daughter of Robert Louden, a lumberman and old settler of Duluth, now
living in Portland, Oregon. To their marriage were born four children,
all of whom are being given every encouragement and advantage in the
way of school and college education for useful careers. The children are:
David L., a student in the University of Virginia at Charlottesville ; Allan
W., a student in the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington; Newton R.,
who attends the Augusta Military Academy at Fort Defiance, Virginia ;
and Genevieve, only daughter, a student in the Duluth High School.
Capt. Elisha Morcom. A great deal of the history of ore mining in
northern Minnesota might be written from the experiences of the Mor-
com family. The late Capt. Elisha Morcom had the distinction of
opening the first iron mine in Minnesota. That was over thirty-seven
years ago, and he and other members of the family have figured promi-
nently in the districts around Tower ever since.
Elisha Morcom was born in the Parish of Kenwyn, Cornwall, England,
May 5, 1835, being son of a mining captain in Cornwall. When he was
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 981
only fifteen years of age he voluntarily left school to go to work in a
coal mine in Cornwall. While he had a limited amount of schooling, he
never regarded his education as finished, and was a student and close
observer of men and affairs all his life. He had the faculty of executive
direction, and his abilities as a manager were as valuable as his technical
skill in mining operations. • Four years after going to work in a coal
mine he came to the United States, in 1854, in company with an uncle,
William Grose. He landed at Philadelphia, and from there went on to
the copper mines of Keweenau County, Michigan, and after two years
removed to Ontonagon County in the same state. He was given the
responsibility of mining captain at Rockland, Michigan, in 1863. From
1865 to 1870 he was mine agent for the Norwich Mine, and then for two
years mine captain at the Nonesuch Mine at Nonesuch. In 1878 he
was given charge of the underground work at Quinnesec on the Menomi-
nee Range, with the rank of captain with the Menominee Mining Com-
pany, finally becoming superintendent.
It was in 1884 that Captain' Morcom was chosen as superintendent for
the Minnesota Mining Company and ordered to make preparations for
the opening of the ore mines at Tower. His first work was to arrange
for building homes for the miners. The first mines of the Range were
opened under his direct supervision and the workers he imported largely
from his wide acquaintance in the mining districts of Michigan. They
came by way of Superior across the ice to Duluth, and thence were con-
veyed overland to Tower, which was then without railroad facilities.
For several years after 1889 Captain Morcom also operated a brick
plant at Soudan. His services as a mining expert were in great demand.
S. P. Ely sent him on several occasions to open iron mines on the Island
of Cuba. He also opened the mines at McKinley on the Mesaba Range
and did much of a similar work in Michigan. He also explored the mines
on the Mesaba Range at Coleraine. Many prominent mining officials in
Michigan and Minnesota, some of those who hold responsible positions
on the Range today, acquired their early training from the late Captain
Morcom.
An important record of public service could also be compiled to his
credit. While in Michigan he held such offices as state legislator and
county supervisor, and at Tower was for many years a member of the
School Board and mayor, had charge of the Minnesota state mining dis-
play at the World's Fair at Chicago in 1893, for many years was a mem-
ber of the Board of County Commissioners of St. Louis County and
chairman of the board. He was a master of Quinnesec Lodge of Masons,
and was affiliated with the Knight Templar Commandery and the Shrine.
In politics he was a Republican, and was a liberal contributor to the
support of all churches.
Captain Morcom, who died at Tower November 21, 1908, married at
Rockland, Michigan, in October, 1858. Elizabeth Ann Wicks. They had
journeyed side by side as husband and wife for just half a century.
Mrs. Morcom, who is still living, was born in Cornwall, England, Septem-
ber 16, 1842, and. was brought to America by her father, John Wicks, a
mining captain who settled in Michigan. Captain and Mrs. Morcom had
three daughters and two sons. Two of the daughters, Carrie and Har-
riet, are now living with their mother at Tower and were in charge of
the postoffice at Tower for twenty-four years. The other daughter,
Alvina, is the wife of Rev. Edward Bull, of Keithburg, Illinois. The
two sons are Elisha, J., Jr., and Harry W., the latter a successful physi-
cian at Duluth.
982 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Elisha J. Morcom, Jr., was born in Ontonagon County, Michigan,
September 30, 1865. He never attended school after he was thirteen, but,
like his father, has been a student all his days. At thirteen he went to
work in machine shops and as a young man was employed as a machinist
with the Marinette Iron Works at Duluth. Mr. Morcom arrived on the
Minnesota Iron Range on St. Patrick's Day, 1884. Of old-timers on the
Range at that date some eight or ten still remain, including Mr. Morcom,
and these pioneers managed to celebrate a little reunion nearly every
year. Mr. Morcom was employed as a machinist at Ely for eleven years,
and also had some interesting experiences in Cuba and Mexico. In Cuba
he was on a railroad survey, and while in Mexico during 1891-92 was
employed on a drainage plant in the city of Mexico, a public utility that
was established in the early history of that city. While at Ely
Mr. Morcom was with the Chandler Mine. In 1905 he was trans-
ferred to the Soudan Mine and for seventeen years has been local master
machinist and general foreman of that plant. Mr. Morcom was also one
of the organizers and is president of the Vermillion Boat and Outing
Company of Tower, an organization that looks after the comforts of
many thousands of tourists to the Lake Vermillion district every year.
April 26, 1893, he married Mary E. Coffey, daughter of Bartholomew
Coffey. She was born in Michigan. They have four children. The sons,
Harold E. and Clifford J., are both employed in the local shops of the
Soudan Mine, and the other two children, Alvina and Ronald J., are both
at home. Clifford was with the Twenty-first Recruits Engineering Corps
at Camp Forrest, Georgia, during the World war.
For six years Mr. Morcom has been master of Vermillion Lodge of
Masons, is a member of the Royal Arch Chapter and Council at Duluth
and the Knight Templar Commandery at Eveleth. He is a Republican
in politics, for several years has been a member of the Tower School
Board, and has also been township supervisor and justice of the peace.
He performs a practical duty in maintaining religious facilities.
William O. Pealer was born on a farm adjoining the village of
Asbury, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, August 4, 1855. His grand-
father, Daniel Pealer, moved to that county in an early day and accu-
mulated several hundred acres of rich farming lands. Daniel Pealer was
the father of fourteen children, twelve sons and two daughters. The
oldest son, George, became the father of the subject of this sketch. He
was born in 1818, and assisted his father until his marriage to Rebecca
Hampton, when he bought a piece of land and commenced farming for
himself, clearing and improving the farm on which William O. was born.
William O. Pealer's great-grandfather on his mother's side was Abijah
Hopkins, a prominent Episcopal bishop and circuit rider in western New
York and northern Pennsylvania during the early days.
George and Rebecca Pealer became Methodists, were Whigs in politics
and were prominent in the early history of the Republican party and
staunch Unionists during the Civil war. William O. was next to the
youngest and is the only survivor of a family of eight children. He
worked on the farm during the summer season and attended the district
school during the winter. Later, during the spring and fall months, he
attended one term at the Orangeville Academy and two terms at the
Columbus Academy, Pennsylvania, and during the winter taught district
school.
In 1877 he came west to Three Rivers, Michigan, where he made his
home with his brother Russell R. Pealer, a prominent lawyer of southern
Michigan who begun his practice at Three Rivers in 1867. Russell R.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 983
Pealer was a soldier in the Civil war, and served as circuit judge of
St. Joseph County and Branch County, Michigan, from 1882 to 1888.
William O. Pealer attended high school at Three Rivers and gradu-
ated from there in the spring of 1878. He then read law in the office of
his brother, and taught a term of district school during the winter of
that year, returning to the study of law again in the spring. He also
opened a real estate, office, out of which he made the money to enable
him to attend the law department of the University of Michigan, from
which he graduated in the spring of 1882. His brother, Russell R. Pealer,
having been elected judge of the Circuit Court of that district in the fall
of 1882, William O. commenced to practice law in the office formerly
occupied by his brother and continued to do so until Judge Pealer retired
from the bench, when they entered into a partnership and practiced under
the name of Pealer Brothers until 1890, when William O. moved to
Duluth.
While in Three Rivers, William O. Pealer was active in civic affairs
and in the development of the city. In 1887, on his instigation, and
with the assistance of A. C. Titus and Edward B. Lemmon, the Three
Rivers Building and Loan Association was organized and he became one
of the managing directors and its attorney. That institution has been
an active and prosperous institution ever since, and is now one of the
oldest and leading building and loan associations in the state of Michigan.
On coming to Duluth Mr. Pealer entered into the active practice of
law and later formed a partnership with Albert Titus, under the name
of Pealer & Titus, with offices in both Duluth and Superior, Mr. Pealer
remaining in Duluth and Mr. Titus in Superior. In 1893 Judge Bruce
Lemmon, a former schoolmate and friend of Mr. Pealer, joined the firm
and they continued under the name of Pealer, Titus & Lemmon, until
the fall of 1896, when Mr. Lemmon died. Later the firm was dissolved,
Mr. Pealer continuing the practice in Duluth and Mr. Titus in Superior.
In the fall of 1896 Mr. Pealer formed a partnership for the practice
of law with Judge Bert Fesler, and they continued to practice under the
name of Pealer & Fesler until Mr. Pealer was elected referee in bank-,
ruptcy, and Mr. Fesler became city attorney, when the firm was dissolved.
Since that time Mr. Pealer has been practicing law alone at Duluth, and
during the last sixteen consecutive years has filled the office of referee
in bankruptcy.
He is a member of the First Methodist Church of Duluth, is a Mason,
a Knight Templar, a member of the Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and
a member of the Commercial Club of Duluth. In June, 1883, he was
united in marriage with Ida M., daughter of Marvin M. Dennison, of
Union City, Michigan. Mrs. Pealer died in 1904. He has one daughter,
Florence M. Pealer.
John F. Segog. In the exploration, handling and development of
timber and mineral lines over the northwestern country John F. Segog of
Duluth has had a conspicuous part for many years. Acting for himself,
for associates, and for other aggregations of capital his business has been
one of great variety and involving an enormous aggregate of interests.
Mr. Segog was born at Canandaigua, New York, November 1, 1859.
His father, Byron G. Segog, was born in Ireland, was brought to America
by his parents, and lived at Canandaigua, where he died in 1862. John
F. Segog, the younger of two children, was three years of age when his
father died, and he was reared largely by his grandmother. As a boy he
did farm work in the intervals of his schooling, and remained in his
native state until his twenty-first year.
984 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
In 1882, thirty-eight years ago, Mr. Segog came to Minnesota, and
has ever since been engaged in the timber and mineral land business in
the northern part of the state. He has his offices in the New Jersey
Building at Duluth. In later years Mr. Segog has been an active member
in several organizations that have developed mineral properties. One of
the most important is the Wyoming Oil & Coal Company, in which he
is a heavy stockholder and the president. He is also president of the
Black Diamond Coal Company. Both these companies are fully equipped
to handle and develop properties for the production of coal and oil.
Mr. Segog is also president of the Wyoming Chemical Products Com-
pany, which he organized in 1917. This company has mineral properties
and rights involving sixteen merchantable mineral products, largely
derivatives or combinations of potash, aluminum, sulphate and other
salts. The headquarters of this organization are in Duluth and Mr. Segog
has active charge of the business. He is a Republican in politics.
George G. Barnum. One of the old residents of Duluth. Was born
in Buffalo, New York, October 10, 1843. Enlisted in the Hundredth
Regiment, New York Volunteers from Buffalo. Served three years in
the Civil war and retired as captain and is a member of the Loyal Legion.
Came to Duluth in 1867 as a member of the first survey party, surveying
a railroad from St. Paul to Duluth, afterwards known as the Lake Super-
ior and Mississippi Railway Company, of which he was the paymaster
and purchasing agent. Left the employ of the railroad company in 1873,
when with Col. J. B. Culver and William R. and George Stone he took
a contract with the Duluth Blast Furnace Company to bring up 300,000
tons of iron ore from Marquette. To do this they bought the propeller
Manistee and steamer Metropolis. The Manistee ran from Duluth -to
Buffalo and the Metropolis opened a line from Duluth to Marquette.
These steamers were the first large boats on the lakes owned and operated
by Duluth people. The Manistee was afterwards lost between Bayfield
and Ontonagon. The steamer Metropolis, after running several seasons,
proved to be too small for the trade and was sold.
Mr. Barnum then entered the grain business at Duluth, was one of
the incorporators of the Duluth Board of Trade and general manager of
the Globe Elevator Company with a capacity of 5,000,000 bushels, for
eighteen years. He then organized the Barnum Grain Company, which
exists at this time. He has been identified with the Washburn-Crosby
Company since 1872 and is now one of the directors.
Herman T. Olson. In the community of Tower the first man in
business importance and civic enterprise is Herman T. Olson, who has
been writing his business record there for a number of years, and who
among other responsibilities holds the office of mayor and chairman of
the school board.
Mr. Olson was born at Paskin in Barron County, Wisconsin,. August
21, 1888, son of Halvor D. and Hattie (Olson) Olson. His mother was
born in Norway, while his father was of Norwegian parentage and was
born at Winchester, Wisconsin, in 1866. Halvor Olson followed farm-
ing and did work in the lumber mills of Wisconsin, and in 1903 removed
to Tower, where for a number of years he has been identified with the
police department. He is a Republican in politics, and a member of the
Lutheran Church. There are five living sons : Oscar M., associated in
business as a merchant with his brother Herman ; Herman T. ; Samuel
D. ; Albert J., of Virginia; and Henry C, of Duluth, who served with the
Railroad Engineers in France in the World war.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 985
Herman T. Olson attended the public schools of his native town of
Paskin, also the high school at Olivet, Wisconsin, and finished his educa-
tion in Tower. About the time he left school he went to work for a
provision and meat company, then for two years was in the general
merchandise store of O. C. Sovde, for two years was clerk at the railroad
depot, and after a commercial course in Superior had employment in
different capacities with T. P. Corey, at Buhl, with the Crete Mining
Company at Hibbing, and in 1911 became clerk in the store at Tower
owned by N. J. Branson. He was soon given the responsibilities of man-
ager and in 1913 he and A. H. Lofgren contracted to buy the thirty thou-
sand dollar stock of goods. Mr. Lofgren had a thousand dollars and
Mr. Olson about six hundred, and this was the cash capital with which
they took over this extensive business. Both were energetic young busi-
ness men, and they handled the enterprise with gratifying results until
America entered the war with Germany, when Mr. Lofgren joined the
army and the entire responsibility fell upon Mr. Olson. He proved equal
to all demands made upon him, and today has the largest store of general
merchandise, drugs, hardware, groceries, dry goods and tourists' supplies
in this section of northern Minnesota.
Mr. Olson is also president of the Northern Outing Company. He
was recently elected mayor of Tower, and for several years has been
chairman of the School Board and secretary of the Commercial Club. He
is an elder in the Presbyterian Church and is affiliated with the Masons
and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Olson married Ethel E.
Burgess, daughter of J. N. Burgess, of Tower. Mrs. Olson died April
27, 1920, leaving three children: Harriet May, Robert B. and William H.
W. J. Suffel is one of the veteran merchants and business men of
Duluth, having been continuously identified with the commercial life of
the city for thirty-five years.
He came to Duluth well equipped in business experience gained in his
native province of Ontario, Canada. He was born at Vienna in that
province December 29, 1850, a son of George and Anna (Davison) Suffel.
His father was born in England and after settling in Canada operated a
general store at Prescott on the St. Lawrence River. He was a merchant
all his life and a very successful business man. In politics he was a mem-
ber of the Reform body. He was the father of nine children, four sons
and two daughters now living.
Second among them was W. J. Suffel, who grew up and received his
education in Canadian schools, and was a factor in the home until he
was twenty-seven years of age. He then became an independent mer-
chant at Emerson, Manitoba, and left Canada in 1885 to come to Duluth
and establish a general store, selling dry goods, boots and shoes. He was
soon enjoying a satisfactory trade and continued the general departments
of his enterprise until 1902, when he sold out and has since confined him-
self exclusively to the shoe business. He is now the oldest shoe dealer
in the city, and his business house at 206 West Superior street has for
years been known to the best people of Duluth for the high standard of
quality and service.
Mr. Suffel is a Republican voter and has long been prominent in the
Masonic Order. On December 7, 1876, he married Miss Mary R. Suffel,
whose people also came from Canada. At her death she left four chil-
dren, Mary R. and George, both deceased, and George E. and William
R. Suffel.
986 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Ernest Patrucco, who came to American soil ten years ago, has
shown a remarkahle ability in adapting himself to the standard and spirit
of American institutions, and since coming to Duluth, which he selected
after careful examination of many other cities, has been instrumental in
developing a unique and important mutual service organization in the
general real estate field.
Ernest Patrucco was born in northern Italy June 22, .1890, and landed
at New York in May, 1910, immediately going to Canada, where for a
little over a year he was employed by the Anglo-Canadian Tanning Com-
pany. He then became teller in a private bank at Toronto, and after
about a year was promoted to cashier, and in that position enjoyed the
distinction of doubling the business of the previous year. His associa-
tion with progressive financial leaders next secured him a position with
the Froster Realty Company, the largest real estate organization in Can-
ada. He started at the bottom of the ladder and was willing to prove
his efficiency. In a short time he was promoted and promoted again and
again, until he became a division manager and handled increasing respon-
sibilities with punctuality and integrity. In the meantime he had oppor-
tunity to travel over western and northwestern Canada, and continued
with the business until the latter part of 1914, when as a result of the
war business in general was seriously affected all over Canada.
About that time Mr. Patrucco came to the United States and visited
many eastern and central cities, spending three months in Chicago and
eventually came to Duluth. He has always been a man of keen observa-
tion and of unusual business judgment, and his first, mature and serious
impressions convinced him that Duluth was the city in which he should
make his permanent home. He was impressed with the general prosper-
ity of Duluth, its general health and an atmosphere of contentment and
happiness. It seemed to him that the prosperity was the result of wealth,
the wealth was due to health and a good, invigorating climate, and that
the happiness was derived from both wealth and health. He also took
into consideration the geographical location of Duluth with respect to
commercial, advantages. Having some knowledge of the real estate
profession, he soon opened an office, and in the five years that have
elapsed he is more enthusiastic than ever about his home city, and is
thoroughly convinced of the wisdom of his choice of this place as his
business location and home.
In 1917 Mr. Patrucco in order the better to serve his clients organized
and promoted with others a real estate corporation known as the People's
Realty and Insurance Association, which now has a membership of about
a thousand stockholders. It is an institution organized under a unique
co-operative system, endorsed by leading experts, and one that has proved
most economical, practical and profitable. It has resulted in a wonderful
simplification of business routine, diminished the cost of operation, and at
the same time with increased efficiency of service. The company is in
fact an organization of a thousand members, both clients and patrons of
the institution, and lending strength to its work because each stockholder
is an active influence among all his relatives, friends and acquaintances.
Millard R. Bush. A resident of Duluth more than thirty years,
Millard R. Bush was distinguished chiefly during his early years by his
immediate superiors as a very energetic and useful employe, but for the
past five years has taken a wider interest and part in the city's com-
mercial life, as president of the well-known grocery house of M. M.
Gasser & Company, and since 1920 as a representative of the Fitzsim-
mons Palmer Company, wholesale fruit dealers.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 987
Mr. Bush was born at Waupun, Wisconsin, March 1, 1865, a son of
Homer D. and Mary (Pattinson) Bush. His father, a native of Massa-
chusetts, went to Wisconsin about sixty years ago, was' a pioneer in that
state, and for many years was engaged in the cigar manufacturing busi-
ness. Of his family of four children Millard R. was the second, and he
and his sister, Mrs. Henry T. Duer, are the only survivors.
Mr. Bush acquired his early education in the public schools of Fond
du Lac and Waupun, Wisconsin, and in 1882, at the age of seventeen,
became a grocery clerk at Fond du Lac. During the next five or six
years he acquired a rather detailed knowledge of the grocery business,
and that experience was his chief recommendation when he came to
Duluth in 1888. At that time, more than thirty years ago, he started
in as a clerk for the M. M. Gasser Grocery Company. In 1890, when
the store was sold to Epling Brothers, he continued with the new firm
two years. Following that he was clerk for Henry Foltz until 1900, in
which year he engaged in business for himself at Lester Park, where he
owned and operated a high class grocery under his own name until 1915.
In 1915 a corporation consisting of Arthur Haskins, Clarence Camp-
bell and Millard R. Bush bought the M..M. Gasser Company, retaining
the old and honored firm name. This business had been incorporated
for twenty-four years, and has long been one of the landmarks in the
business section of West Superior street, the house being located at 209-
211. The business record of the firm has been one of steady and sure
growth, and during the past five years the volume of sales and business
in general has actually doubled. Mr. Bush became president of the
corporation, a well deserved honor due his long and faithful service.
On April 15, 1920, he sold his interest in the Gasser Company and on
June 1, 1920, entered the employ of the Fitzsimmons Palmer Company,
wholesale fruits, of Duluth, and is so engaged at the present time.
For about two years, from 1913 to 1915, he was also interested in
the Mercantile Company. He is president of the Duluth Retail Grocers'
Association, is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Duluth, is affiliated with
the Masonic Lodge and is a Republican and a member of the Episcopal
Church. Away from business his chief recreation is fishing and hunting.
On November 28, 1889, he married Miss Jennie Uren, of English
ancestry. She was educated in the public schools of Houghton, Michi-
gan, and Duluth, and outside of her home has found such substantial
interests as the Red Cross during war times and membership in literary
clubs. To their marriage were born four children, all living, Ada, Gladys,
Charlie and Maude. Ada, who was born March 16, 1892, after finishing
the work of the public schools of Duluth attended the University of
Minnesota, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1915, for
four years was a high school teacher, and in 1919 became Mrs. G. F.
Wallis, and they now reside in Texas. Gladys, who was educated in the
grade and high schools of Duluth, attended Duluth Business University,
and is now a stenographer at 312 Columbia Building, Duluth. The son
Charles also had the advantages of the Duluth public schools, spent one
year on the fire patrol of the Oliver Iron Mining Company, and for
three years past has been a bookkeeper in the First National Bank of
Duluth. Maude, the youngest of the children, was educated in the gram-
mar and high schools of Duluth and is now attending the Duluth Business
University.
William M. Prindle is president of W. M. Prindle & Company,
which firm is engaged in the handling of high class properties in Duluth
and the placing of first mortgage loans. He is president of Prindle-Jones
988 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Company and vice president of Kirby-Griggs Company, which companies
operate a large insurance agency, handling all classes of insurance. He
is also vice president of the George G. Newton Company of Superior,
Wisconsin, which company does a general real estate, mortgage loan and
insurance business.
Mr. Prindle was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, September 23, 1861,
son of George and Christine (Turner) Prindle. A few years later the
family moved to Wilmington, Illinois, where George Prindle was active
for manv years as a retail merchant, returning later to Kalamazoo, where
he died 'in 1901.
William Prindle attended the public schools in Wilmington, the Monee
Academy for Boys and Kalamazoo College. After leaving college he
was employed in the operating department of the Chicago & Alton Rail-
road in various localities. He left the Chicago & Alton Railroad when
an opportunity arose for him to enter the general freight agent's office
of the Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Company, and was soon advanced
to the president's office. This company was later absorbed by the Chi-
cago, Santa Fe & California Railroad, now a part of the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe system.
In March. 1887, Mr. Prindle came to Duluth and was associated with
Mr. Charles H. Clague in the real estate business until 1893. At that
time he organized with Mr. E. A. Merrill, then president of the Minne-
sota Loan and Trust Company, the firm of W. M. Prindle & Company,
which has always been one -of the foremost real estate firms of Duluth.
Later Mr. Merrill retired from business and there are now associated
with Mr. Prindle in this business Mr. George G. Newton, vice president;
O. G. Lachmund, treasurer ; E. M. Dunbar, secretary, and William H.
Jones, vice president of Prindle-Jones Company.
There has been a steady development and growth in the business from
year to year and it now represents a large and complete organization for
the handling of properties, the making of mortgage loans and the writing
of insurance. Connected with this office are twenty-five employes.
Mr. Prindle is a Republican, a member of the various civic and social
clubs of the city, and has always taken an active interest in the develop-
ment of Duluth. He is also a member of the Society of Colonial Wars,
the Sons of the Revolution and the Mayflower Society.
January 18, 1888, Mr. Prindle married Mina N. Merrill, of Minne-
apolis, daughter of Daniel P. Merrill, of Geneseo, Illinois. Mr. and
Mrs. Prindle have one daughter, Muriel, who married Cornelius A.
Wood and now lives at Andover, Massachusetts.
Joseph Randall, who is chief of the Duluth Fire Department, has
been one of the valiant and gallant fire fighters of this northern city from
pioneer days, when the equipment was meager, when there were no
modern streets and boulevards, and when the buildings were chiefly one
and two-story affairs.
Mr. Randall was born May 6, 1864, in Ontario, Canada, and came to
the United States in 1883, at the age of nineteen, with his mother and
other members of the family. His father had died in Canada in 1882.
Of seven sons and five daughters two daughters are still living. Joseph
Randall, who acquired his early education in country schools in Canada,
found employment in a livery stable soon after coming to Duluth, and
later was a driver on one of the old horse cars when municipal transporta-
tion was dependent upon the strength of mules or horses to pull the cars
along the rails. Not long afterward he began his association with the
city fire department as a driver, and in 1889 was appointed a captain, in
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 989
1893 was promoted to assistant chief of the fire fighting forces, and
since July, 1909, has been chief of the squadron. Chief Randall is per-
haps the only man who can tell from personal experience and knowledge
the history of Duluth's fire service through the past thirty or thirty-five
years. He is one of the veteran fire fighters of the northwest, has kept
the confidence and esteem of citizens and his subordinates, and has given
Duluth a splendid service in every respect.
He is affiliated with Lakeside Lodge No. 283 of the Masonic Order,
and is a member of the Rotary Club, the order of Elks and in politics
votes as a Republican. October 28, 1896, at Duluth, he married Miss
May Patterson. They have two children, Margaret E., a graduate of the
University of Minnesota, and John J., now a student in high school.
Earl H. Marshall is one of the youngest wholesale merchants of
Duluth, being treasurer and general manager of the Marshall-Brown
Company, wholesale jobbers of cigars, tobaccos and candies at 306 West
Michigan street.
Mr. Marshall, who from early boyhood has been identified by actual
experience with the candy and tobacco business, was born at Grand
Rapids, Michigan, September 20, 1891, fourth among the nine children
of W. H. Marshall. His father was a native of Ireland and spent his
active career as a farmer. Earl H. Marshall secured his early education
at Grand Rapids, and at the age of ten years was selling newspapers on
the streets of that city. At fourteen he became a candy-maker's helper
in the factory of the Nation Candy Company and two or three years
later, in 1908, came to Duluth, and in 1910 entered the cigar business.
He was first associated with the Schiller Cigar Company, and later
operated retail stores of his own at 312 West Superior street and 500
West Superior street. On October 2, 1919, the Marshall-Brown Com-
pany was incorporated, with Mr. Marshall as treasurer and general man-
ager, R. J. Whiteside as president, and V. J. Lanigan, secretary. This
house has built up a large business as wholesale distributors of cigars,
tobacco and candy throughout Duluth and the Iron Range district.
Mr. Marshall is a Republican and is affiliated with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows and the Elks. July 30, 1913, he married Ethel D.
Cohagen, and they have two children.
August J. T. Hanft. A prominent feature of the industrial district
of Duluth is the Globe Duluth Iron Works, one of the founders and
president of which is August J. T. Hanft, a practical and long experienced
machinist, who is qualified both. by technical ability and executive capac-
ity for the active head of this concern.
Mr. Hanft was born in Michigan November 21, 1881. His father,
Ernest Philip Hanft, left his native Germany on account of compulsory
military service and came to America in 1862, living for a time at Detroit,
but eventually moving to Duluth, where he died in 1884. August J. T.
Hanft is the youngest of five children, all of whom are still living. He
was educated in the public schools of Duluth, and as a youth was a cattle
herder for eight years. Following a three-years' apprenticeship at the
trade of machinist he worked as a journeyman for eleven years, and then
with his three brothers formed a partnership in the machinery business
under the name of the Globe Iron Works at Duluth. The business was
incorporated as the Globe Duluth Iron Works in 1918, with Mr. Hanft
president, E. W. Hanft, vice president, Michael P. Binane, secretary
and treasurer. This company has rapidly extended and expanded, and
now at its location at South Thirty-ninth avenue, West, operates three
990 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
large shops, with every modern equipment and device for the handling
and manufacture of machinery. They operate the most extensive machin-
ery repair business in the city.
Mr. August Han ft has always been regarded as one of Duluth's most
public-spirited citizens. He is a member of Palestine Lodge of Masons,
is a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and a Republican. March 19, 1914,
he married Miss Signe M. Lindstrom. They have three children: Bar-
bara, Mary and Isabelle.
William C. Sargent. Among the strong and influential citizens of
Duluth, the record of whose lives have become an essential part of the
history of this section. William C. Sargent has exerted a beneficial
influence throughout the community where he resides. His chief char-
acteristics are keenness of perception, a tireless energy and honesty of
purpose and motive, which have enabled him not only to advance his own
interests but also to largely contribute to the material and moral advance-
ment of the city and county honored by his citizenship.
William C. Sargent was born December 4. 1859, in Boston, Massa-
chusetts, a son of George B. and Mary (Perin) Sargent. George B.
Sargent was a native of Boston, where he was reared and spent his early
years. In 1836 he went to Davenport. Iowa, and engaged in the mercan-
tile business for a number of years, but eventually moved from there to
New York city, where he became identified with the banking business.
In 1869 he came to Duluth and engaged in the banking business under
the name of George B. Sargent & Company, but which was closed out
by him at the end of five years. He had banking interests throughout
the state of Iowa, took an active part in public affairs while there, and
was the originator of the Old Settlers' Association. As a contractor he
built the first church in Duluth, the Episcopal Church at Second avenue,
West, and Second street, and also built the Clark House and the Bay
View House. In many ways he was one of the builders of Duluth, having
by his efforts contributed in a very definite way to the early growth and
substantial foundation of this thriving community. He sustained close
relations with the Jay Cooke banking house of Philadelphia, and during
the years 1871 and 1872 went abroad three or four times, selling bonds
the proceeds from which were to finance the Northern Pacific Railway
for this banking company. George B. Sargent was a man of high attain-
ments, a discriminating and thoughtful reader and a close observer of
men and events. He was an authority on matters of finance, and held
a high position in the circles in which he moved.
William C. Sargent is the youngest of the ten children born to his
parents, all being deceased excepting Mr. Sargent and a sister, Mrs. F. W.
Paine, of 1007 London road, Duluth. After attending the public schools
Mr. Sargent was a student in the Shattuck School at Faribault, Minne-
sota, and at St. John's School at Manlius, near Syracuse, New York.
After completing his studies he went to work for the Northern Pacific
Railroad in Duluth as clerk. After three years of service in that capacity
he went into business for himself. In 1896 he was elected sheriff of
St. Louis County, serving for six years and discharging the duties of the
office in an efficient and satisfactory manner. Through the years of his
residence here Mr. Sargeant has been deeply interested in large farming
enterprises, and at one time opened up a large farm for John G. Williams
in Carlton County, Minnesota. He has been connected with big dairy
farms in the capacity of superintendent, and is probably one of the most
ardent and enthusiastic believers in pure-bred cattle, especially for this
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 991
particular section of the country, where climate and grasses are well
adapted for the purpose.
In 1880 Mr. Sargent engaged in the real estate business, and has
been a leader in his line almost continually since then, having been iden-
tified with the establishment of many of the most popular and successful
additions to the city. He laid out Lakeside, London Addition and Lester
Park, the latter comprising five divisions, and was associated with the
Real Estate Exchange in the laying out of Waverly Park and other
divisions. Besides this particular line of work Mr. Sargent has also
been identified with a great many other business enterprises in Duluth
and elsewhere.
In January, 1887, at Syracuse, New York, he was married to Rhobie
L. Peck, a daughter of General John J. Peck, of New York state, who
was a graduate of West Point and prominent as a brigadier-general in
the Mexican and Civil wars, living to be about sixty-five years old.
Mrs. Sargent received a splendid education in Syracuse and studied
music for several years abroad. To Mr. and Mrs. Sargent have been
born two children. William H., born October 4, 1887, was educated in
the public schools of Duluth and is now employed at the Duluth Creamery
and Produce Company. Rhobie L., who is a graduate of the University
of Minnesota, now holds the position of dietitian in St. Luke's Hospital,
Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Fraternally Mr. Sargent is a member of the Masonic Order, in which
he has attained all the degrees, the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, the Modern Samaritans and the United Order of Foresters, while
he also holds membership in the Elks Club, the Commercial Club, the
Kitchi Gammi Club and the Boat Club, having been especially active
in the last named. He has been successful in business, respected in social
life and as a citizen has discharged his duties in a manner becoming a
liberal-minded, intelligent citizen of the state where the essential quali-
ties of manhood have ever been duly recognized and prized at their
true value.
Duluth News-Tribune. The pioneer journalist of Duluth was
Dr. Thomas Foster, who had earned a high reputation as an editor
before coming to the Head of the Lakes. He arrived at Duluth and
established his plant and on Saturday, April 24, 1869, issued the first
paper ever published at Duluth, known as the Minnesotian. Its chief
rival was the Superior Tribune, and a wordy and editorial warfare waged
between the Minnesotian and the Tribune for several years until it was
definitely determined that Duluth was to be the terminal of the first
railroad to reach the Head of the Lakes. This question settled and
Duluth rapidly forging ahead of Superior, the editor of the Tribune,
recognizing defeat, loaded his press, type, paper and other apparatus
on a boat and had it ferried across the bay to Duluth. On May 3, 1870,
the editor and publisher, Mr. R. C. Mitchell, issued the first number of
the Duluth Tribune. It was a weekly until May 15, 1872, when, sig-
nalizing the rapid growth of the young city, Mr. Mitchell began the
publication of the Daily Tribune, a six column paper with Associated
Press dispatches. Shortly afterward began the financial panic of 1873
and following years, during which the Daily Tribune suffered many
hardships and struggles. The daily publication ceased and on September
11, 1875, the Minnesotian-Herald came into the field. With renewed
business activity and better prospects Editor Mitchell in 1878 bought
out the Minnesotian, consolidating it with the Tribune, and for a time
the Tribune was the only paper in the city.
992 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
In 1878 W. S. Woodbridge started the publication of the Weekly
Lake Superior News. The Tribune was rapidly growing, increasing in
size, and in 1881 the Daily Tribune was re-established and continued by
Mr. Mitchell until 1889, when he sold it. In 1892 the Tribune was
sold to the News, and that was the beginning of the present title of the
News-Tribune. There were several changes of ownership during the
nineties until in 1899 the News-Tribune came under the control of
Mr. Milie Bunnell and associates, where it remains today. The News-
Tribune is not only historically the oldest paper in northern Minnesota
but is the chief organization for the collection and dissemination of
news, its special correspondents covering all parts of the great tributary
territory.
Clement M. TramiONTIn. Prior to and since the great fire Mr.
Tramontin has been one of the leading business men and citizens of
Chisholm, is a merchant with a large following of customers and also
actively associated with the civic and official life of the village.
He was born at Iron Mountain, Michigan, February 19, 1887. His
father, Frank Tramontin, was born in Italy May 1, 1853, and as a youth
learned and followed the brickmaking trade. In 1884 he came to the
United States and three years later acquired naturalization as an Amer-
ican citizen. For twenty years he was employed in the mining district of
northern Michigan and northern Minnesota, and was also in the saloon
business for six years. He was one of the first practical mining men to
visit and begin work in the Tower district of St. Louis County. No rail-
roads had been built there, and he had to pack in. He is one of the
veterans of the mining district and is now retired. He married in Italy
Lucy Francescina, and she followed her husband to the United States
after he had been here three years. Of their ten children Clement M. is
the fifth.
Clement M. Tramontin spent his boyhood days at Iron Mountain,
Michigan, attended grade schools, and at the age of thirteen was learning
the business and paying his way as clerk and general utility boy in a gen-
eral store at Ely, Minnesota. The first nine months his wages amounted
to his board only. After that he was given $10 a month and board, and
by the time he had been with the business seven years his services were
valued at $75 a month and board. When he first went there most of the
customers upon whom he waited were Indians.
Mr. Tramontin moved to Chisholm in 1907, and was connected with
the Jakse general store until the fire of "September, 1908. After that
destruction the business was resumed in a shack, and he continued with
the firm about seven months longer. Then with his brother Louis and
the Sartori brothers he opened a general store. The partnership was
dissolved at the end of two and a half years, and Mr. Tramontin and his
brother Louis then established themselves as merchants, operating a gro-
cery and provision store, and still continue that as one of the leading
retail concerns of Chisholm.
On February 8, 1911, Mr. Tramontin married Elisa Martinetti, of
Soudan, Minnesota. She is of Italian parentage. They have three chil-
dren : Frederick E., born February 26, 1912 ; Clementia M., born Novem-
ber 23, 1913; and William F., born February 15, 1915.
While a hard working business man, Mr. Tramontin has given what
time he could spare to civic duties. He was a member of committees and
an active salesman during the Liberty Loan campaigns and served as a
member of the Home Guard during the war. He is a director and second
vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and served as village recorder
of Chisholm in 1913, 1919 and 1920. He is affiliated with Lodge No.
v — » /yj t vy^ tfsw^iri^LisCA^
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 993
1334 of the Elks, with the local lodge of Owls, and is a member of the
local Italian organization known as Christopher Columbus Lodge. Polit-
ically he votes independently and is a member of the Catholic Church.
James A. MacKillican. A mining engineer and mine operator of
wide experience whose work has brought him connections in many of the
western mining fields, James A. MacKillican is a well known figure in
mining circles at Hibbing, being superintendent of the Meriden Iron Com-
pany and of the Mace Iron Mining Company.
He was born in Door County, Wisconsin, January 13, 1882, son of
George D. and Mary (Foster) MacKillican. His parents were born in
Ontario, Canada, came to the United States in 1876 and located in Door
County, Wisconsin, where George McKillican was identified with the
lumber industry. Later he moved to Escanaba in the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan, where he died in 1890 and where his widow is still living.
James A. MacKillican was about seven years of age when his parents
moved to Escanaba and a year later his father died. He managed to
acquire a good education in the local schools, graduating from high school
in 1903. During the remainder of that year and most of 1904 he was a
student in the University of Michigan, and then entered the Michigan
School of Mines at Houghton, where he graduated in 1906. Subsequent
years were spent in a manner and in places calculated to give him the
largest amount of experience and the widest training to supplement his
technical education. For about four and a half years he was superinten-
dent of a mine in Montana for the Michigan & Montana Development
Company. For six months he was superintendent of the Comet Mine at
Hailey, Idaho, and another six months were passed with the Utah Copper
Company at Garfield, Utah.
After this experience in the far west he returned to Escanaba, where
for about eighteen months he was city engineer, and in 1912 he came to
Hibbing as assistant superintendent of the Meriden Iron Company. In
1917 he was promoted to superintendent of this company, and also was
made superintendent of the Mace Iron Mining Company. His knowledge,
executive ability and experience give him every qualification for handling
the duties of these offices.
Mr. MacKillican is a vestryman of Christ Memorial Episcopal Church
of Hibbing, is a Republican voter, a member of the Masonic fraternity
and belongs to the Commercial Club and the Kiwanis Club. April 20,
1908, he married Miss Alfa Snyder, of Escanaba, Michigan. Their two
daughters are Laura Jane and Mary Margaret.
Edward J. Morrissey. The growth and development of any com-
munity is largely dependent upon the exertion of those men who devote
themselves to the exploitation of real estate. Without their energy, vim
and progressive ideas no locality will move out of the conventional rut,
outside money will not be attracted to it, and property will be worth but
little more as the years go by. With the advent of an enterprising, experi-
enced man well versed in the realty business comes a growth that is
remarkable. Many communities have proven this, and Buhl has been
no exception to the rule, and one of the men who has so materially aided
in its advancement is Edward J. Morrissey, one of the prominent realtors
of St. Louis County and vice president of the Buhl State Bank.
Edward J. Morrissey was born at Toronto, Canada, February 5, 1873,
a son of James and Harriet (Hargrave) Morrissey. James Morrissey
was born at Queenstown, Ireland, in 1812, and lived to be eighty-six years
old. After learning to be a mason he developed into a contractor in that
line of construction work, and as such came to New York state and was
y94 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
naturalized. His wife was born in Ireland in 1832, and came to the
United States when young. She, too, lived to an old age, dying when
eighty-three years old. They had eight children born to them, of whom
Edward J. Morrissey was the youngest.
Growing up at Pickering, Ontario, Canada, Edward J. Morrissey
attended school until he was fourteen years old, when he was apprenticed
to the brick-laying trade, and when he was seventeen went to the Buffalo
Iron Works and a year later became a riveter. This firm sent him to
Chicago, Illinois, to work as a riveter on the Fine Arts building for the
World's Fair, and when he had completed that contract he went with
McArthur Brothers, one of the largest contracting firms of that city, and
was employed on the Drainage Canal construction work. In 1894 he went
to Wisconsin and was with his brother for a short time, but then went
into the woods and was a lumberjack for three years. It was then that he
first came to Minnesota, and for a time was manager of Miles' Saloon at
Hibbing, leaving that position to open a saloon of his own in that city. In
April, 1916, Mr. Morrisesy came to Buhl and, buying the Stratford Hotel,
operated it until March, 191 8, when he remodeled his hotel, and with a
group of men organized the Buhl State Bank, of which he is vice pres-
ident. He is also largely interested in real estate, handling principally
farm properties all over the state. He is at present the president of the
village of Buhl, having succeeded himself in this office. Politically he is
a stanch Republican. Fraternally he belongs to Hibbing Lodge Xo. 1022,
B. P. O. E., and is a charter member of the Moose and Redmen of Hib-
bing. He is a Catholic. During the great war he gave two years of his
time to local war activities, and has several testimonial appreciations from
the administration. Mr. Morrissey was a member of the Liberty Loan
Committees, of the Legal Advisory Board, and helped to organize the
American Loyalty League.
In 1896 he was married to Miss Effie Thomas, of Wisconsin, a mem-
ber of an old English family, from whom he was legally separated. They
had one son, Earl S., who was born in 1898. This son enlisted in the
United States Navy for service during the great war, and was sent to the
Great Lakes Training Station. He studied radio and finished his course
in this at Harvard, following which he was sent to Cape Cod, Massa-
chusetts, where he served until that station was dismantled, and is now
a chief petty officer in charge of the radio station at Otter Cliff, Maine.
In October, 1917, Mr. Morrissey was married to Miss Hilda Schwen,
who was born at Mountain Iron, Minnesota. They have one son, Ed-
ward J., Jr.
Edward C. Cloutier. Of all the organizations designed for the well-
being of a community none can be of more importance than an effective
police department, for its basic duty is the protection of life and property.
It is a body with soldierly qualities, disciplined and trained, and pos-
sesses the same courageous spirit that leads to the endangering of life in
the performance of duty. Every community should take pride in its
police, and in testimony thereto see that the chief of this necessary bodv
be a man worthy of his high station, and, furthermore, give this chief
adequate material and public-spirited support. One of the fortunate situ-
ations in which Chisholm, Minnesota, finds itself is that in Edward C.
Cloutier, its police chief, it has a public official who is trustworthy in
every particular
Chief Cloutier was born November 5, 1885, at Somerset in Saint Croix
County, Wisconsin, the youngest of a family of sixteen children. His
parents were Damas and Delia (Vague) Cloutier, both of whom were of
French ancestry but were born in Canada, the father in 1822 and the
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 995
mother in 1837, their marriage taking place when the latter was but four-
teen years old. Her death occurred in 1902 and that of the father in
1904. In early manhood he had been a sailor on the Great Lakes but later
became a farmer in Saint Croix County, Wisconsin.
Edward C. Cloutier remained at home until he was sixteen years old,
in the meantime attending school at Somerset and assisting on the home
farm. He then went to Stillwater, and being strong and active had no
difficulty in finding employment, although only a boy in years, in the
lumber regions. For three winters he worked as a lumberjack in the
woods, and for three summers rafted logs on the Saint Croix boom.
Seemingly his chosen occupations were those that especially developed him
physically and gave him the health and proportions that are often favor-
ably commented on in his official position today. For three more years
he worked as a lumberjack in the woods and in the harvest fields in the
summers. His next move was to Duluth, Minnesota, where three winters
were spent in the nearby lumber camps and during two of the summers
he worked as a helper in a boiler shop. It was here that he became
first identified with police duty, serving one summer as special patrolman
on the docks. In April, 1908, Mr. Cloutier came to Chisholm and served
for four and a half years as police officer for the Oliver Mining Com-
pany. After retiring from that connection he was appointed a village
patrolman, and in 1916 was promoted to a sergeantcy. He is now serving
in his third consecutive term as chief of police.
Chief Cloutier was married July 2, 1912, to Miss Elizabeth Rice, of
Ironwood, Michigan. They are members of the Roman Catholic Church.
He belongs to the Knights of Columbus and the Elks. During the great
war he was a member of the Home Guard and was active on committees
in all the patriotic movements.
Alfred J. McAlpin. Ably filling an office that calls for personal
courage, endurance, good judgment and executive ability, Alfred J. Mc-
Alpin, chief of the Chisholm Fire Department, enjoys with the esteem
and respect of his fellow citizens a large measure of their sincere ad-
miration. The duties of fire chief are never light and the responsibility
is always heavy. Under Chief McAlpin's administration the department
has been brought to a high standard of excellence, the equipment has been
kept instantly available and up to date, and the fire losses have been ma-
terially reduced.
Alfred J. McAlpin was born January 6, 1883, at Maple Lake, Wright
County, Minnesota, the sixth in a family of ten children born to James
and Mary (McDonald) McAlpin. His father was born in Ireland, came
to Canada when young, and in early manhood to the United States, where
he was naturalized. He has been engaged in agricultural pursuits for
many years. The mother of Chief McAlpin was of Irish parentage but
was born in Canada. He had educational privileges in the public schools
of Maple Lake until fifteen years old, after which for five years he gave
his father assistance on the home farm.
In 1903 Mr. McAlpin went to North Dakota, where for a time he
was clerk in a hotel, and afterward for about a year operated a grain
elevator. Returning then to his home in Wright County, in partnership
with a brother he leased and operated a farm for one year. Not being
quite satisfied with his future prospects in the farming line, he then went
to Minneapolis, in which city he was employed for a year by the Killgon-
Peddler Dump Car Works. It was in 1907 that he came to Chisholm to
work for the Shenango Furnace and Mining Company on a diamond drill,
later going to Hibbing in the same capacity. Once more he returned
home, but only for six months, when he went back to Hibbing and for
Vol. Ill— 5
996 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
two years afterward was a pipe man in the fire department there. In
1909 he again came to Chisholm, and served until 1912 as assistant chief
of the fire department here. From 1912 to 1914 he was a patrolman in
the police department, at the end of that time being appointed fire chief.
Chief McAlpin was married May 7, 1912, to Miss Mary Seeley, of
Cass Lake, who was born at Park Rapids, Hubbard County, Minnesota.
Her father was born in New York and her mother in Germany, the latter
having been brought to the United States in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Mc-
Alpin have three children : Russell J., Edith M. and Joseph L., aged
respectively seven, four and two years. Chief McAlpin and wife are
members of the Catholic Church, and he belongs to the order of Knights
oi Columbus, and additionally is a member of the Brotherhood of Amer-
ican Yeoman and of Chisholm Lodge of Elks, No. 1334.
Otherwise than noted above, Chief McAlpin has been an active and
useful citizen of Chisholm. During the entire period of the great war he
was a member of the Home Guard body, and freely gave his services on
patriotic committees in relation to the Savings Stamps and Liberty Loan
drives. For three years he served on the Chisholm Board of Health, and
in every way has cheerfully accepted even burdensome responsibilities that
in his judgment pertain to the privilege of citizenship and add to the
general welfare of the community.
John F. Fredin has been a resident and business man of Duluth forty
years, and during the greater part of that time has been one of the build-
ing mason contractors of Northern Minnesota. His name is held in the
highest respect and there is an increasing appreciation of the substantial
qualities of his work and of his character as well.
He was born in Sweden March 7, 1854. He grew up on the farm of
his parents, acquired a common school education, and before leaving
Sweden learned the art of masonry in stone and brick. He was about
twenty-six years of age when he came to Duluth, and as an individual or
as a contractor he has been identified with many of the most important
construction enterprises in brick and stone since he came here. He and
his organization laid the foundation for the Duluth Union Depot, and
a number of the city's best school houses and other public buildings, in-
cluding the Central High School. Mr. Fredin is a member of the Old
Settlers Association of Duluth and has long been officially identified with
the First Swedish Baptist church. He married at Duluth September 3,
1881, Anna Walldenspron, a native of Sweden. Three of their children
died in early childhood. ' The seven to grow up were Allgott F., Conrad
George, David Herbert, John F., Jr., Esther, Gertrude and Hedvick Vir-
ginia. Mr. and Mrs. Fredin gave their children the best educational ad-
vantages, and most of them are now well established in homes or occupa-
tions of their own. John F. Jr., and Conrad both saw overseas service
in the great World war, John in the infantry and Conrad with the en-
gineers. Mrs. Fredin passed away on the 16th of May, 1919.
John H. Tresider. Thirty years a resident of northern Minnesota,
John H. Tresider has abundantly proved his fidelity, his capability and
his talents as a factor in the life of the Iron Ranges and has long been
one of the trusted and responsible men in the service of the Oliver Iron
Mining Company. He is now master mechanic for that corporation in
the Chisholm district.
He was born in Ontonagon County, Michigan, August 4, 1875, son of
Joel and Susan (Rodgers) Tresider. His father and mother were both
born in England. His father came to this country when a young man and
for many years followed mining on the northern ranges.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 997
Youngest of three children, John H. Tresider spent his early life in
Greenland, Michigan, where he attended the public schools through the
eighth grade. He was only about twelve years of age when his father
died, and that event threw him upon his own resources and he has been
master of his fate and destiny ever since. About 1888 his widowed
mother moved to Tower, Minnesota, and that brought Mr. Tresider to
the Range district of northern Minnesota, and his first employment was
with the concern that preceded the old Minnesota Iron Company in the
capacity of a horse driver at a derrick hoisting ore in the South Lee Mine.
Subsequently he had various other working positions, giving him a liveli-
hood and presenting opportunities to acquire a broadly diversified knowl-
edge of the iron mining industry. He was drill carrier, apprentice in a
machine shop and learned the machinist's trade, and about 1900 was
promoted machine shop foreman. In 1902 he was appointed master
mechanic and in 1905 transferred as master mechanic of the Mountain
Iron District. In 1910 came another transfer that was in fact a promo-
tion when he was made master mechanic of the Canisteo District at
Coleraine. From 1917 to 1920 he was superintendent of the Holman
Mine at Taconite and since January 1, 1920, has been master mechanic
of the Chisholm District.
Few men know the Mesaba Range more intimately than Mr. Tresider.
While his years have been devoted to business, he found time while at
Mountain Iron to serve about three years on the Village Council and while
at Coleraine was township supervisor four years and for two years a
member of the School Board. He is a Republican and a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. June 9, 1898, he married Anna McDonald,
of Tower. Their three children are named Mae, Margaret and Arline.
Arthur R. Folsom. Of all of the professions the law, perhaps,
requires the largest amount of study along generally uninteresting lines,
for the physician is apt to become absorbed in scientific discovery at the
beginning of his reading, while the minister starts out with a mind illum-
ined and a heart atune. The hard facts of the law that have to be
learned by themselves, and so learned that the understanding is quick-
ened into a comprehension that may later be drawn upon before judge
and jury, have very often discourged a student at the outset and have
resulted in his turning to a much easier vocation. Therefore it may be
easily seen that the successful lawyer must possess intellectual qualifica-
tions, and his logical understanding, his keenness, his tenacity of purpose,
and his unrivaled powers of application, all being necessary, must be de-
veloped to their utmost. Arthur R. Folsom, whose position at the St.
Louis County bar is unquestioned, is a man who has all of these qualities,
and never ceases to stimulate them by reading and investigation.
Mr. Folsom was born at Lake Crystal, Minnesota, January 23, 1885, a
son of Alfred and Mary S. (Rice) Folsom. Alfred Folsom was born in
New York, April 22, 1845, and comes of an old American family, his
forefathers having crossed from England to the American Colonies in
1648. His mother was the granddaughter of Ethan Allen. When he was
sixteen years old Alfred Folsom enlisted in the Fifty-second New York
Volunteer Infantry, and served throughout the war between the two
sections of the country. He was wounded at the battle of Cold Harbor
and was in the hospital as a result for ten months. Returning home he
became a farmer after the close of the war. His wife was born at
Potsdam, New York, October 22, 1856, and also came of an old American
family. They were married in 1879 at Mankato, Minnesota, and became
the parents of five children, of whom Arthur R. Folsom is the third in
order of birth. His brother Rufus A. Folsom, who is next younger than
998 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
he, enlisted for service during the great war, and died of influenza at
Camp Lewis.
Arthur R. Folsom attended the grade school at Lake Crystal, and was
graduated from its high school in 1904. He then entered the University
of Minnesota, and was graduated from its law school in 1907, and was
admitted to the Minnesota bar that same year. At school he was inter-
ested in athletics, and he also belonged to Dillon Chapter of Phi Delta
Phi, a legal fraternity, and of Gamma Tau, a chapter of Sigma Nu. Fol-
lowing his admission to the bar Mr. Folsom entered the law office of
Jaques & Hudson at Duluth, Minnesota, and remained with that firm for
six months, leaving it to go with J. H. Morton, county attorney, and that
association was maintained until January, 1909, when Mr. Folsom moved
10 Hibbing and opened an office of his own, but in June, 1910, left Hibbing
for Buhl, where he has since remained, building up a large and remuner-
ative practice. He has been active in local affairs, is a leader in the Re-
publican party, and has been village attorney for four terms, attorney for
the township of Great Scott six terms and attorney for the village of
Kinney four terms. Mr. Folsom belongs to Buhl Lodge No. 1334, B. P.
O. E., Buhl Lodge, I. O. O. F., and Buhl Lodge, L. O. M. The Meth-
odist Episcopal Church holds his membership. During the great war he
was prevented by circumstances over which he had no control from enroll-
ing in an officers' training camp until the day before the armistice was
signed.
On October 7, 1915, Mr. Folsom was married to Miss Martha E. Gil-
christ, of Lake Crystal, whose ancestors date back to Colonial days in
the history of this country. She died October 14, 1916, leaving one
daughter, Martha G., who was born October 11, 1916. On April 16, 1921,
Mr. Folsom married Hazel K. Bean, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. In his
practice he is guided by intelligence and sustained and unwavering firm-
ness of purpose, and he carries these qualities into everything he under-
takes, and for this reason is so often called upon to accept of the respon-
sibilities of public office.
Emanuel T. Griese is one of the oldest experts in the service of the
Oliver Iron Mining Company in the Iron Range district of northern
Minnesota. For many years he has held the post of chief chemist with
that company. He is an industrial expert, a highly trained scientist, comes
of a family of professional people widely known at Cleveland and else-
where, and is one of the invaluable citizens of Hibbing.
Mr. Griese was born at Cleveland, Ohio, November 11, 1862, son of
Charles H. and Marie (Hanson) Griese. Both parents were of Danish
ancestry, his mother born in Denmark while his father was born in Ger-
many. Charles H. Griese was born April 24, 1821, and his wife was born
December 3, 1825. When about twenty years of age Charles H. Griese
came to the United States and located at Cleveland, Ohio, where he ob-
tained his naturalization papers. Five years later he returned to Europe
and completed his education as an architect and builder at Hanover, Ger-
many. His master work was completed at Copenhagen, Denmark, and he
then resumed his residence at Cleveland, where for many years his work
was conspicuous as an architect and builder and his name to this day is
one of special distinction in that great Ohio city. For two years Charles
H. Griese was a Union soldier during the Civil war. He died April 29,
1909, and his widow died on May 24, 1910. Of their nine children eight
are still living, and they also had two adopted children.
Emanuel T. Griese, sixth in order of birth, was reared in Cleveland,
and there and elsewhere acquired a liberal education and training for the
service he has given in mature years. He graduated from the German
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 999
Lutheran parochial school at Cleveland, spent four years in the Lutheran
Seminary at Fort Wayne, Indiana, attended another Lutheran school,
Northwestern University at Watertown, Wisconsin, two years, and for
two years pursued special studies in chemistry and pharmacy at the
University of Michigan. He was a student of chemistry and metallurgy
for two years in the Ohio State University at Columbus, and then went
abroad for two years, completing his scientific education in Germany,
specializing in chemistry and metallurgy in the University of Berlin and
Freiburg University
With this well rounded education he returned to the United States and
rendered his first professional services as a chemist and metallurgist in
Cleveland. For a time he was chemist for the Iron Mountain Company
at Iron Mountain, Missouri, then went back to Cleveland, and on August
1, 1894, was engaged as chemist by the Lake Superior Consolidated at
Mountain Iron on the Mesaba Range in northern Minnesota. Thus for
over a quarter of a century he has been connected in a professional
capacity with the iron ore district of St. Louis County. In 1895 he went
to Duluth as chief chemist, and in 1903 his headquarters were transferred
to Hibbing, where for seventeen years he has been chief chemist of the
local offices of the Oliver Iron Mining Company.
December 6, 1895, Mr. Griese married Miss Lillie Hooper, of Roches-
ter, New York. They have two children, Harry T. and Sylvia E.
Leo C. Mitchell. The possibilities of northern Minnesota as an
iron production region are being recognized, but there was a time not so
far distant when these rich ore-bearing sections of the country lay undis-
turbed and pioneers rushed to other fields, overlooking the wealth which
lay close at hand. Not much more than a beginning has yet been made,
for the supply seems inexhaustable, but enough development has taken
place to change desolate timber tracts into thriving villages and cities and
to create a wealth of untold millions. One of the families connected with
the iron producing industry of northern Minnesota from the beginning
is that bearing the name of Mitchell, and a member of it at Chisholm is
Leo C. Mitchell, superintendent of the Monroe, Tenner, Chisholm, Clark,
Glen and Wellington Mines of the Oliver Mining Company, who has
made his home in St. Louis County for more than a quarter of a century,
and has borne his part in the wonderful development of the Range
country.
Mr. Mitchell has had a wonderful experience. Born at Hancock,
Michigan, September 9, 1864, he is one of the nine children born to the
marriage of Penticost J. Mitchell and Janet Robinson. The Mitchell
family is inseparably and closely interwoven with the history of St. Louis
County. As a boy Mr. Mitchell attended the public schools at Negaunee,
Michigan, and when he was fourteen years of age started out to be self-
supporting, and has continued to depend entirely upon his own efforts
ever since. His first work was done as a clerk in a store at Negaunee,
but he later became a helper in a lumber yard, and then worked in a
sales stable. Before he was sixteen years old he was in the employ of a
mining company, having in the meanwhile, however, secured some experi-
ence in a gold mine at Buena Vista, and later at Leadville, Colorado. Still
later he went down into New Mexico and worked for a development com-
pany both in mining and lumbering. His mining experience has been in
copper, silver and gold, and is very complete. Continuing with this same
development company, he was sent by it into old Mexico and Arizona, and
was with it for five years.
Returning to Michigan, Mr. Mitchell went into iron mining operations
on the Gogebic Range when it was first opened in 1885, and filled various
1000 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
positions, including those of mechanic, pumpman and master mechanic,
and learning the business thoroughly. This work pi his covered the Colby
group of mines, now a part of the holdings of the steel corporation.
Through the different changes in ownership Mr. Mitchell has since con-
tinuously worked for this concern. In 1894, after having worked on the
Gogebic Range from 1888, he was sent to Hibbing, of the Mesaba Range
of northern Minnesota. He has filled practically every conceivable posi-
tion up to his present one with his company. Few men know the mining
game as thoroughly and practically as does Mr. Mitchell, and he has
learned it in the school of experience and by actual operation. From Hib-
bing he came to Chisholrn in 1902, and has been here ever since.
Mr. Mitchell is a Republican, and has been elected on his party ticket
trustee of Chisholrn, and as such has safeguarded the interests of the
taxpayers. The Presbyterian Church holds his membership and benefits
from his donations. His time is fully occupied with his business and
family, so he has not taken an active part in fraternal or social organ-
izations.
In 1887 Mr. Mitchell was united in marriage with Cora Goodwin, of
Ironwood, Michigan, and they have had eight children born to them,
namely : Walter D., who died when twenty years of age ; Leona, who is
Mrs. J. C. Madson; Claude, Chester, Pearl, Irma, Cora and Leo, who
died in infancy.
Chester Mitchell is a veteran of the great war, having served in it as
a member of the Eighty-seventh Division, Three Hundred and Twelfth
Supply Train. He was sent overseas and saw one year's service in France,
and received his honorable discharge following his return to the United
States after the signing of the armistice. Having given his country a
loyal service as a soldier, he is without doubt going to render it an equally
valuable assistance as a private citizen, for a Government worth fighting
for is worth supporting under any and all conditions. Mr. and Mrs. Mit-
chell have every reason to be proud of their fine family, and the young
people are reflecting great credit on their parents and the careful and con-
scientious training they have always received.
John Allen, proprietor of one of the largest garages and automobile
repair establishments in Duluth, has spent many years in Minnesota, and
has achieved his prosperity largely through the difficult role of hard toil.
Mr. Allen was born at Spring Lake, Michigan, September 5, 1869,
and grew up with a common school education and with a training that
fitted him for the active outdoor life. He came to Minnesota in 1892
and entered the service of the Swan River Logging Company at Swan
River. He was in the service of that concern continuously for twenty-
one years. Then for four years he was with the William Carlson Ore
Company on the Cuyuna Range, most of the time as superintendent of the
hydraulic department. This is a brief statement of a quarter of a century
of faithful and earnest toil and service. He then came to Duluth and
engaged in the automobile business. He has a large stock, with equipment
and skilled operatives for handling all classes of automobile repairs.
His garage is one of the largest in the city, being 106x156 feet, and
with storage space for sixty automobiles. He has a large business in
handling second hand cars, and keeps a large stock of automobile acces-
sories.
Mr. Allen is a Catholic, a member of the Knights of Columbus and
votes as a Democrat. August 5, 1900, he married, and he and his wife
have four children: Alice, Mabel, Jane and Nelson J. Allen. Mr. Allen
owns a fine home at 1409 East Superior street, where he has lived during
the past fifteen years.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1001
Samuel W. Lundall has been identified in a business way with
Chisholm since 1905. He was a merchant in the little village at the time
of the great fire of 1908, took part in the modern rebuilding and upbuild-
ing, and has in fact witnessed the changes and transformations that have
evolved a modern town out of a mining camp.
Mr. Lundall has effected in his personal destiny changes and develop-
ments hardly less noteworthy than those of this village. He had few
opportunities and advantages when a boy, and his resolution and persist-
ence have been responsible for the more than ordinary success he has
achieved. His birth occurred on a farm in Washington County, Min-
nesota, October 24, 1862. His parents, Munse and Dorothy Lundall,
were natives of Sweden and were pioneers in Minnesota territory, coming
to this country in 1858, not long after their marriage. The father
worked as a farmer in Washington County until he was able to acquire
a farm of his own. The Lundalls were in Minnesota when the entire
territory had a sparse population, and when the danger of Indian uprising
had by no means passed. There were evidences of pioneer hardship and
conflict when Samuel W. Lundall came to years of recollection and
conscious memory. He was one of four children. He had very limited
opportunities in such schools as existed at the time, and there was no
period from early boyhood when he was free from the responsibility of
work. He was only three years old when his father died, and at the
age of nine he was working as a dishwasher in a mining camp at Hink-
ley and subsequently did a great variety of rough and uncongenial work
in lumber camps and saw mills until he was about seventeen years of age,
when he began learning upholstering and the furniture business and mat-
tress making with John S. Bradstreet, one of the pioneer manufacturers
in that line in the northwest. Mr. Bradstreet's establishment was at
Minneapolis, and Mr. Lundall was employed there and in other concerns,
and in a modest way was in business for himself prior to 1905, when
he came to Chisholm. Here he entered the furniture and undertaking
business and later opened a stock of general house furnishings, and has
seen his business steadily grow and prosper.
A good business man, he has been equally a good citizen, and for
two years served as trustee of the village. He is a Republican in politics.
In 1902 Mr. Lundall married Mrs. Anna (Ryder) Rupp. She has one
son, Edmond Joseph Rupp.
Albert W. Shaw, M. D. Professionally identified with the Range
district of northern Minnesota for over twenty years, Dr. Shaw is physi-
cian and surgeon for practically all the mining companies operating in
the Buhl district, enjoys a large private practice, and is founder and
active head of a splendidly equipped and efficient private hospital at Buhl.
He is a cultured gentleman as well as a high class physician and surgeon,
possesses a strong sense of civic duty, and also has a keen appreciation
of the importance of the proper development of the coming generation.
He was born at Levant, Maine, February 26, 1871, and represents
old New England stock. His father, William Abbott Shaw, was born at
Exeter, Maine, January 3, 1825, and devoted his active years chiefly to the
tilling of the rough and rugged hills of New England. In 1849 he
joined the flood of gold seekers on the way to California, and altogether
made three trips to the gold coast. On one of these he walked across
the Isthmus of Panama. He spent much time in other sections of the
west. He was in Minnesota at the beginning of the Civil war, and
in 1862, immediately after the massacre at New Ulm, he drove an ox
team in company with a party of about four hundred men from St. Cloud
to the newly discovered mines of the northwest at what is now Helena,
Montana. He spent his last days at Buhl, Minnesota, where he died
1002 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
February 19, 1903. At Levant, Maine, he married Miss Julia Ett Cloud-
Ian, who was born at Garland, Maine, April 8, 1839, and was likewise
of New England ancestry.
Third in a family of six children, Albert W. Shaw acquired most of
his early education at Levant, Maine, but finished the work of the grade
schools at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his parents lived for seven
years. Cambridge is the seat of Harvard University, and he graduated
from a preparatory school there. In 1888, at the age of seventeen, he
came to Minneapolis, and during the next seven years was engaged in
the grocery business for himself. In pursuance of a long cherished
plan he entered the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1895, and
was graduated in 1899. His proficiency was recognized and for three
years he held the post of assistant prosector and assistant demonstrator
of anatomy in the Medical School. Soon after graduating in May, 1899,
he came to Eveleth, Minnesota, as assistant to Dr. C. W. More, and
on September 9, 1901, came to Buhl as company physician for the Sharon
Ore Company and the Drake-Stratton Company. Soon afterward he was
given the additional duties of local surgeon for the Mesaba and Great
Northern Railroad, and about that time engaged in a general practice,
having equipped a small hospital of his own. He is now the senior
physician and surgeon for all the mining companies around Buhl and as
a means of handling to better advantage his growing surgical practice
he built in September, 1918, the handsome hospital, a brick building
advantageously located, containing thirty-six beds, and with all modern
facilities, including X-Ray apparatus, diagnostic laboratories and fully
appointed operating room. The hospital has a staff of four physicians,
Drs. S. M. Johnson, W. W. Weber, E. C. Smith and G. R. Allaben, and
has also three trained nurses. Dr. Shaw is a member of the Range
Medical Society of St. Louis County, the State and American Medical
Associations and the Association of Railway Surgeons. He has taken
much interest in local affairs since coming to northern Minnesota, and
was a member of the township board nine years. He is a Knight Templar
Mason and Shriner, being affiliated with Hematite Lodge No. 274, A. F.
and A. M., and has also attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish
Rite. In politics he is a Republican, and he is a member of the Episcopal
Church. September 24, 1902, he married Miss Anna Laura Purdy, of
Logansport, Indiana. She was born January 31, 1877, and represents
a Revolutionary family and is a member of the D. A. R. To their
marriage were born three children, Lewis Preston, on December 23, 1904;
Charlotte Rosamond, on May 10, 1908; and Jean, on January 27, 1916.
LeRoy Salsich, who has spent much of his adult life on tihe iron
ranges of northern Minnesota, was born at Hartland in Waukesha County,
Wisconsin, December 20, 1879, oldest of the five children of Hamilton E.
and Jane W. (Bourne) Salsich.
LeRoy Salsich attended the grade schools of his native town, also the
East and South Side High Schools of Milwaukee, and in 1897 entered the
University of Wisconsin, where he was graduated with the Bachelor of
Science degree in 1901. A young man of university training, he came at
once to northern Minnesota, and for a brief time was in the employ
of the Lake Superior Consolidated Iron Mines at Duluth. Since then
his service has been continuous with the Oliver Iron Mining Company.
In 1902 he was appointed chief engineer for this corporation for the
Hibbing district, was transferred to Coleraine in April, 1905, and there
served as chief engineer, was superintendent of the Holman Mine in
1906, assistant general superintendent of that district in 1911, and became
its general superintendent in June, 1913. He was a resident of Coleraine
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1003
ten years, and during that time took a keen interest in the upbuilding
of the community. Mr. Salsich came to Hibbing to make his home in
1918, and since May of that year has been assistant district manager for
the Oliver Iron Mining Company.
He is a member of various technical societies, and is a Republican
in politics. In August, 1904, he married Miss Elisabeth Frazer, of
Duluth.
William Marshall Tappan, general superintendent of the Oliver
Iron Mining Company at Hibbing, first entered the service of this great
corporation twenty-two years ago as an office man, and with accumulating
experience and knowledge has qualified himself for some of the higher
executive responsibilities.
Mr. Tappan was born in Cleveland, Ohio, October 4, 1875, a son of
William M. and Adaline (Allen) Tappan. The Tappens were early
Dutch colonists on Manhattan Island, and the family has furnished
many people of distinction in American life and affairs. Mr. Tappan
through his mother is a direct descendant of General Ethan Allen of the
Revolutionary war. William M. Tappan, Sr., was a civil engineer and
a ship builder, served as a soldier of the Union army during the Civil
war and died in Cleveland March 20, 1915, at the age of eighty-seven.
The mother survived until April 14, 1921.
William Marshall Tappan was reared in his native city, graduated
from high school and spent three years in Baldwin University at Berea,
Ohio. His first experience was in the office of Corrigan, Ives & Com-
pany at Ramsey, Michigan, one year, following which he was employed
as an accountant in the offices of the Carnegie Steel Company at
Pittsburgh for nearly three years, and he spent about three years
on the Pacific Coast, most of the time in charge of a salmon canning
factory at Astoria, Oregon. Mr. Tappan returned east in the fall of
1898, and soon afterward entered the service of the Oliver Iron Mining
Company at Ironwood, Michigan. Four months later the company trans-
ferred him to Iron River as office manager, and in the fall of 1903 they
sent him to Hibbing, where he has had his business headquarters ever
since. He came to Hibbing as chief clerk in the offices of the corporation,
in 1905 was promoted to superintendent of the Pillsbury, Glen and Clark
Mines, in January, 1906, was made superintendent of the Hull-Rust
Mines, handling the duties of that position for five years, and in 191 1 was
promoted to assistant general superintendent of the Hibbing district under
William J. West. Mr. West is now a resident of Virginia, Minnesota, and
was succeeded as general superintendent of the Hibbing district by
Mr. Tappan.
Mr. Tappan, though one of the leading industrial executives of the
Range country, is an exceptionally modest man, and by his manner seldom
betrays any of the heavy weight of responsibilities he bears. He is a
member of the Commercial Club, the Kiwanis Club, the Algonquin Club,
is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner and in 1914 was worshipful
master of Mesaba Lodge No. 255, A. F. and A. M., is a member of the
Episcopal Church and gives his political support to the Republican
party.
Mr. Tappan married Miss Gertrude Goss, of Cleveland, Ohio. Their
three sons are William Hardesty, Warren Marshall and John Goss
Tappan.
Charles Baxter came to Duluth nearly thirty years ago, and almost
from the beginning his name has been familiar in the great lumber indus-
tries centering in the city. Mr. Baxter is now the active head of the
1004 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Baxter Sash & Door Company, one of the chief organizations for the
manufacture of finished products in the city.
Mr. Baxter was born at Leith, Scotland, January 9, 1865, and has
achieved independence as a manufacturer and business man after a rather
humble boyhood and youth. He attained the equivalent of a common
school education in Scotland, and in 1885, at the age of twenty, came
to America and for two years lived in Chicago, where he followed his
trade as a carpenter. From Chicago he moved to Winona, Minnesota,
worked as a carpenter there two years, and was then at St. Paul, an
employe of the Bohn Manufacturing Company until 1892.
On removing to Duluth in 1892 Mr. Baxter was connected with
one of the great lumber firms of that time, the Scott-Graff Lumber
Company. In 1900 he withdrew and with P. C. Ouellette established
a new firm known as the Ouellette-Baxter Company, operating a lumber
mill for the manufacture of sash and door and interior work. In 1908
the firm name was changed to the Baxter Sash and Door Company, and
that is the title at present.
The first year the business production was valued at about fifty thou-
sand dollars. Now the aggregate annual volume runs over three hundred
thousand dollars. The facilities are strictly confined to the manufacture
of lumber, sash, doors and interior trim, and this material is shipped
over the states of Minnesota, Iowa and Michigan and as far west as
Butte, Montana. The factory is equipped with some of the finest and
most modern machinery for mill work, all the machinery being electrically
ariven. The factory and warehouses cover about five acres of ground on
the Northern Pacific & Soo Railroads, and the force of men employed,
many of them expert workers, numbers about one hundred.
Mr. Baxter has thus built up a big industry, and that has been his
chief contribution to Duluth, since he has never cared for the vexations
and cares of politics. He is an independent voter, is a thirty-second
degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Modern Woodmen of
America. He married at Superior, Wisconsin, in 1898, and has two
children, Marion and Donald.
Max H. Barber has spent nearly all his life in the mining districts
of northern Michigan and Minnesota, is a civil engineer by early train-
ing and profession, but practically ever since leaving university has been
connected with the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, for which he is now
district superintendent of the Minnesota properties, with headquarters
at South Hibbing.
Mr. Barber was born at Yermontville, Michigan, November 13, 1879,
son of M. F. and Agnes (Hayden) Barber. His father from 1893 until
his death in 1901 had charge of the Lake Superior Powder Company's
business on the Mesaba Range. He died at Virginia.
The early years of Max H. Barber were spent at Ishpeming, and he
graduated from high school in 1898. Not long afterward he entered the
University of Michigan and was in the civil engineering department,
taking his degree Civil Engineer in 1903. He at once became identified
with the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, serving in the engineering
department until 1911, and since then in the operating department. Mr.
Barber is a member of the American Mining and Metallurgical Engineers
Society and belongs to a number of technical organizations. He is a
Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Episcopal Church. January
2, 1907, he married Dorice H. Wood, of Iron Mountain, Michigan.
James H. McNivex, for fourteen years a resident of Chisholm, is
recognized as one of the foremost citizens of the village, and is one
of those progressive, virile and efficient characters that succeed in any
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1005
locality and under all circumstances by the very force of a compelling
personality. Mr. McNiven is a native of Canada, having been born in
the Province of Ontario December 10, 1879. He is a son of James
H. and Minerva (Mount) McNiven, farming people of Canada, coming
of Scotch descent.
Growing up in his native country, James H. McNiven, the younger,
attended the country schools and graduated from high school in 1896.
Later he became a student of the Hamilton Normal School, and after
he had completed its courses, entered the educational field and for four
years was engaged in teaching school. Leaving Canada in 1902 for
the United States, he found employment for his talents as an instructor
of a commercial course in the Duluth Business University, and remained
at Duluth, Minnesota, in that capacity for two, years. However, he is
a man of too much energy and determination to rest content with the
opportunities offered in the calling of a teacher, and sought another
opening with the International Harvester Company and for six months
held the position of credit man for western Canada, with headquarters
at Regina.
During the time he had been at Duluth Mr. McNiven had found
that he preferred the Linked States to Canada for business purposes,
and so accepted the offer made to him by A. M. Chisholm to enter his
employ and look after his town site business, and he remained with
and organized the McNiven Land Company, and is now engaged in con-
that gentleman until 1916, in 1906 locating permanently at Chisholm.
In 1916 Mr. McNiven bought Mr. Chisholm's interest in the land business
ducting the affairs of this flourishing concern.
When he first came to the United States Mr. McNiven took out
naturalization papers, and since he became a citizen has been called upon
to hold various offices. In 1913 and 1914 he was a member of the
Village Council of Chisholm, and in 1916 was elected to the Lower House
of the Minnesota State Assembly and served during 1917 and 1918. While
in the Legislature Mr. McNiven took a very active part in the sessions,
and some very constructive measures were passed through his support.
He is a member of the Chisholm Commercial and Kiwanis Clubs. He
belongs to the Masons and Elks, having attained to the thirty-second
degree and the Mystic Shrine in the former fraternity.
On October 25, 1910, Mr. McNiven was united in marriage with
Miss Effie Van Fleet, of Kilbride, Ontario, and they have one daughter,
Margaret., Mrs. McNiven is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Mr. McNiven is a man who possess the caliber of brain,
strength of will and indomitableness of ambition which make anything
possible. He is a recognized authority on public questions and a close
student of politics. Probably no better man could have been selected by
Mr. Chisholm to shape the destiny of the new village, for he possesses
the grit, vision and really marvelous ability to overcome obstacles, with-
out which characteristics no one could hope to succeed in such a project.
The people of Chisholm appreciate the value of the services he has and
is rendering, and look to him to further represent their interests in affairs
of public moment.
George R. Barrett. The first noteworthy mining activities began
in the Buhl district about twenty years ago, and the most substantial
period in the history of that town has been during the last twelve years.
Throughout this period since 1905 George R. Barrett has been located at
Buhl as assistant inspector of state mines and has been otherwise officially
and in business prominent in the community.
Mr. Barrett was born at Medford, Wisconsin, July 19, 1881. His
1006 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
father, Frederick Barrett, had some pioneer distinctions in northern Min-
nesota. He was born at Clearfield, Pennsylvania, November 5, 1843,
and in his youth qualified as a physician and practiced for some years
in Pennsylvania. Later he lived in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and in
the latter state was engaged in the newspaper business. He was one of
the first men to visit the Mesaba Range, and opened the Ohio mine
at Virginia. In 1873 Dr. Frederick Barrett married Caroline Redmond,
who was born in New Orleans October 5, 1844.
Third among their four children, George R. Barrett acquired a com-
mon school education at Tower, Minnesota, and for a year and a half
was a student at Wilder, a preparatory school in Southern Minnesota.
Since then he has had a busy career, largely one of progressive accom-
plishment and service. For one winter he was employed as timekeeper
on a railroad, the next summer was general clerk at a lumber camp
at Crane, Lake Portage, then for seven or eight months was assistant
to the storehouse keeper of the Minnesota Iron Company at Soudan,
for one year was shipping clerk and another year underground time-
keeper, and in 1900 became timekeeper at the Fayal Mine at Eveleth,
and for three or four months worked as an underground miner in the
same mine. The following winter he spent setting corner posts at Aurora,
and during the spring, summer and fall tried selling life insurance.
Mr. Barrett during the following session of the Legislature was in St.
Paul as accountant for the Public Accounts and Expenditure Committees
at the House of Representatives.
It was in April, 1905, that he came to Buhl as assistant inspector of
state mines, and in that capacity he has served ever since. His practical
knowledge of mining and his wide business experience eminently qualify
him for the duties of his office. He has also done much business in the
buying and selling of land and is agent for a number of fire insurance
companies.
Mr. Barrett was elected and served as a member of the Buhl School
Board from 1909 to 1912 and again in 1919-20. He was president of the
village in the years 1911, 1912, 1915 and 1916. Politically he is affiliated
with the Republicans, is a member of the Loyal Order of Moose at Buhl
and his church is the Episcopalian. August 26, 1908, he married Miss
Jessie Cross, of Warren, Minnesota. She is a member of an old American
family. They have four children: Frederick Cross, George R., Jr.,
and Bess twins, and Jessie Louise.
Gustave A. Wellner. A resident of Hibbing for twenty-three
years, Gustave A. Wellner is one of the community's best known citizens
and business men, and has exerted himself at all times to promote the
substantial welfare of his community.
A native of Minnesota, he was born near the historic town of New
Ulm in Nicollet County December 6, 1873. Simon Wellner, his father,
was born in Germany, spent his regular term in the German army, but
chose to rear his own family in a land of liberty free from the influences
of militarism. In 1854 he came to this country, lived for two years at
Freeport, Illinois, and then moved to the territory of Minnesota and was
one of the pioneers in the New Ulm district. He took up a homestead
and engaged in farming there and lived to the age of eighty-four. He
was one of the solid and substantial men of the community and for many
years served as school treasurer. At New Ulm he married Minnie
Beckmann, who is still living in that vicinity, where all her children, six
sons and two daughters, were born.
Gus Wellner grew up on his father's farm, acquired his education
in the graded schools of New Ulm, and began his individual career in
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1007
his twentieth year. His first efforts were expended as a farmer, subse-
quently he worked in railroading service, and for a time clerked in a
grocery store at St. Peter, Minnesota. When in August, 1897, he came
to Hibbing he was employed as bookkeeper for the Carlson Mercantile
Company, and continued that service for this corporation nearly six years.
About that time the Carlson Exploration Company was organized, and
Mr. Wellner then became financially interested in that business and as
secretary and office manager has been identified with the affairs of the
corporation ever since. He is also a well known banker, being a director
of long standing in the Merchants and Miners Bank at Hibbing, and
for several years past has been president of the First National Bank
at Buhl.
Mr. Wellner is a Republican, a member of the Lutheran Church and
is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. August
17, 1899, he married Adaline Luetjen, of New Ulm, Minnesota. Their
three children are Alice S., Nevada C. and Norma A.
Joseph Becks. The history of the Head of the Lakes during the past
forty years is largely a matter of personal recollection to Joseph Becks,
who came to the Lake Superior country a friendless lad, endured many
of the trials and vicissitudes of those who had to depend upon their
toil for support, but in later years has become one of the best known
citizens of Duluth, both in business and in public affairs.
Mr. Becks was born in Finland, where he was reared and educated,
and at the age of sixteen came alone to the United States in 1881. His
first location was at Marquette, Michigan, where he found work at
railroading for about seven months. In 1882 he paid his first visit to
Duluth, did railroading at Bayfield during the following winter, and in
the spring of 1883 went to work for Captain McDougall at Duluth,. and
during the summer trimmed grain, wheat, corn, flax, and also unloaded
railroad steel for the construction of the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad.
From the fall of 1883 until the fall of 1884 he was working on the
Canadian Pacific at Port Arthur, and returned to Duluth just in time to
get into the ranks of the unemployed during the hard times era. He
was unemployed for ten months, and then sought opportunities again at
Port Arthur, where he remained until 1887, part of the time working
on the Canadian Pacific on the surface road, then in the silver mines
known as the Silver Mountain, Beaver Mine and Robin Mountain.
Again in Duluth, Mr. Becks found opportunity for his service in the
work of opening up Third street, and was also employed in the Woodruff
Lumber Yard. In the spring of 1888 he entered the service of Scott &
Holson on Lake avenue, and when that firm was succeeded by the Scott-
Graff Company in the spring of 1890 he remained with them until 1892.
During 1893-94 he was employed in a saw mill piling lumber and in
other duties and also did constructive work at the Ore Docks. This
eventually became his chief employment, and at varying intervals he
continued construction work at the ore docks and house building until
1909.
For over ten years Mr. Becks has largely devoted his time and best
efforts to the responsibilities of public office. During 1909-10 he was
street commissioner of Duluth, was inspector for the water and light
department in 1911-12, and during the next four years was with the
Minnesota Steel Company as foreman of construction two and a half
years and one year as foreman of operation. In the fall of 1916 he was
elected county commissioner of St. Louis County, and the duties of that
office have absorbed his time ever since.
1008 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Becks is affiliated with Euclid Lodge No. 198, A. F. and A. M.,
is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, is a member
of Lodge No. 168 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also of
the Encampment, and Excelsior Lodge No. 59 of the Rebekahs. He
has had all the honors in the Subordinate Lodge and was representative
to the Grand Lodge of Minnesota Odd Fellows. He is a member of the
Tall Cedars Order, the Loyal Order of Moose No. 505, Improved Order
of Red Men, Modern Samaritans, and for fourteen years was secretary
of the Modern Brotherhood of America. He is also a member of the
Old Settlers Association, and the West Duluth Commercial Club. Religi-
ously he is affiliated with the Elim Swedish Lutheran Church. In politics
he is non-partisan in local affairs, and a Republican in state and national
elections.
May 24, 1890, Mr. Becks married Miss Hannah Mattson. Of the
seven children born to their union only three are now living: Fred A.
Becks, born at West Duluth September 15, 1892, is a shoe dealer; Hildur
E. Becks, born August 28, 1894, is a bookkeeper and stenographer; and
J. Arthur Becks, born May 19, 1899, is learning the machinist's trade
with the Minnesota Steel Company.
William L. Galloway has devoted forty years or more of an active
lifetime to commercial pursuits. He has been a merchant on the Iron
Ranges of Minnesota for a number of years, and has the leading dry goods
establishment at Chisholm.
He was born on Green River in Calhoun County, Kentucky, July 21,
1860. His father, Samuel Galloway, was a native of Floyd County, Indi-
ana, and a cooper by trade, though for forty years of his career most of
his time was devoted to the teaching of vocal music. The Galloways were
a family of talented and natural musicians, and for many years achieved
more than local fame in southern Indiana. All of them could sing. At
picnics, celebrations, festivals and in political campaigns their melody was
heard and applauded. William L. Galloway was one of nine children,
and before he had learned to read he appeared with the rest of the family
and sang alto. Music was one of the strong bonds which cemented the
affections of this family. Time with its inevitable changes has broken
the golden links of those associations, but they remain a golden memory to
the survivors.
Samuel Galloway married Belinda Smith. They were living in Ken-
tucky when the Civil war came on. His sympathies were with the north,
and the Kentucky neighborhood becoming uncongenial he removed to
Bloomington, Indiana, and later to Terre Haute, where he died.
William L. Galloway spent most of his boyhood in Terre Haute, at-
tending graded schools, and acquired his early knowledge of business as
clerk in a general store at Newport, Indiana. W r hen his employers moved
the store to Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1884 he went along with it and re-
mained as clerk. Subsequently he went on the road as traveling represen-
tative of a wholesale house in St. Joseph, Missouri, covering Kansas and
what is now the state of Oklahoma, and for six years made his headquar-
ters at Wichita. He then went back to his old home state of Indiana and
took a position in a Terre Haute house as clerk at wages of $15 a week,
but in a few years had been promoted to general manager.
Mr. Galloway came to Duluth in 1905. For four years he was depart-
ment buyer for the firm of Panton & W r hite. In 1909 he opened a store
of his own at Hibbing, and conducted a business there for seven years.
Then, in April, 1916, he moved to Chisholm, and as a merchant and citi-
zen has been closely identified with that community. He bore a large share
of burdens in connection with local war activities. Mr. Galloway was the
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1009
first man to be examined and was the first charter member of the first
lodge of the Knights of the Maccabees in Indiana, and he still keeps his
membership in that order at Terre Haute. He is a member of the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church. His first wife was Miss Carrie Glanton Cush-
man. She died in 1906, the mother of two children: Harriet Fae, who
became the wife of Wilfred Lewis and moved to Wisconsin and died at
Menasha in that state at the age of twenty-seven; and Mae, who died
when three years of age. In 1909 Mr. Galloway married Miss Ida
Wethal. They have three sons: William Leonard, Jr., Richard S. and
Grant Wesley.
John Butler, secretary of Butler Brothers, contractors and mine
operators, is one of the important business men of Buhl, and one of the
representative citizens of St. Louis County. He was born at Waterford,
Minnesota, August 20, 1861, a son of Patrick and Mary Ann (Gaffney)
Butler. Patrick Butler was born in Ireland, March 17, 1823, and was a
farmer by occupation. When he was twenty-one years old he came to
the United States, and as soon as possible after his arrival he took out
his papers of citizenship. His wife was also born in Ireland, her birth
occurring in 1830. They were married in the United States in 1853, and
they became the parents of nine children, of whom John Butler is the
fourth in order of birth.
Although John Butler received but limited opportunities for attending
school, he was well taught by his father, who was a well educated man.
When only nine years old he began to make himself useful on the farm,
and the lessons of industry and thrift he acquired at an early age have
never been forgotten. In 1888 he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, and
with his brothers engaged actively in a contracting business, carrying on
building and excavating, and executed some very large contracts, among
which was the Minnesota state capitol building, to obtain the marble for
which he spent three years at the quarry in Georgia. Another big con-
tract was the railroad construction work and iron docks at Ashland,
Minnesota, and a third, the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. During 1901 Mr.
Butler was engaged at Minneapolis in railroad construction for his firm
and in 1902 came to the Range, where he has since remained. In 1902 the
firm of Butler Brothers took contracts for stripping and mining the
Cypress and Leetonia Mines, completing their contract for the former in
1907 and latter in 1910. In 1908 they took contracts for stripping and
mining the Sliver and La Rue properties of the M. A. Hanna Company,
completing their obligations in 1913. In 1909 Butler Brothers took a
contract to strip and mine the Grant Mine at Buhl, the property of the
Jones-Laughlin Company, and completed this in 1914. In 1911 they took
the contract to strip and mine the Long Year Mine near Hibbing, which
was owned by the same company, and completed it in 1914. In 1912
they took the contract for stripping the Dean Mine at Buhl, and the Smith
Mine near Hibbing, completing the contract of the Dean Mine in 1916
and of the Smith Mine in 1914. In 1913 they took a contract for partially
stripping the Wakefield Mine at Wakefield, Michigan, owned by the M. A.
Hanna Company, and finished this contract in 1914. Another contract
taken by them in 1913, for the stripping and mining of the Morrow Mine
near Eveleth, Minnesota, the property of Captain Sellwood, was completed
in 1914. In 1912 they took a contract for stripping the Bennett Mine, a
Great Northern property, and completed it in 1917. In 1915 they con-
tracted to strip and mine the Plymouth Mine near Wakefield, Michigan,
and completed the contract in 1917, and that same year, 1915, contracted
to strip and mine Mace Mine Number 2, near Nashwauk, and are still
working on that contract. In 1920 they took a contract for stripping the
1010 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
South Judd Mine near Holman, Minnesota, which property is owned by
the Oliver Mining Company, and they are now working on it. In 1913
Butler Brothers took a lease on the Ouinn Mine, and operated it as an
open pit mine. This was their first lease, but since then they have ac-
quired leases on the Smith, the Lambuton, the North Harrison, the Har-
rison, the Patrick, the Kevin, the Ann and the Margaret, all of which are
still producing, except the Ann. They are producers of direct shipping
ore and ore that has to be treated, and for the latter they have two con-
centrating plants and one drying plant. All of these mines are mined by
the open pit method except for small tonnage boardering on the open pits.
The firm of Butler Brothers is composed of Walter Butler, the pres-
ident, and John, William, Cooley and Emmett Butler. Their headquarters
are at St. Paul, Minnesota. These brothers have always been progressive
and among the first to adopt improved methods. John Butler claims that
the remarkable success of the firm is due to the efforts of no single mem-
ber, but to the concerted action of them all, each one having his special
duties which he performs efficiently and with the idea of working in entire
harmony with his associates. Another one of the brothers, Pierce Butler,
is an eminent attorney of St. Paul, and all of them are exceptionally gifted
in their several lines.
In 1892 John Butler was married to Margaret McGran, of Belleplaine,
Minnesota, who is of Irish parentage. They have no children. In relig-
ion he is a Catholic. During the great war Mr. Butler took part in the
various drives in behalf of the Liberty Loans, and in every possible way,
as always, proved his worth as a man and citizen. No history of this
region would be complete without mention of the activities of this repre-
sentative firm. Through the energies and dependability of the partners
some of the most important mines have been stripped and operated, af-
fording employment for thousands, and releasing for use in different
industries ore that is so much needed in order to keep abreast of the
changing times. Their operations are conducted upon a scale that is
gigantic, and yet the affairs are managed with precision and accuracy
which insure prompt and accurate compliance to the terms of the contract
as signed. The name of Butler Brothers has therefore come to stand
for all that is reliable and efficient in the field in which this firm has held
so commanding a position for many years, and when an agreement is
entered into with them the other party to it knows that he need take no
further thought relative to the work, for he realizes that it will be well
performed within the stated period.
Bert M. Conklin. Educated as a mining engineer, Bert M. Conklin
came to the Minnesota Iron Ranges sixteen years ago, and as technical
man and operating executive has filled many posts over the district. He
is now chief engineer of the Arthur Iron Mining Company. This com-
pany is the operating organization for handling the Great Northern iron
ore properties on the Mesaba Range.
Mr. Conklin was born at Wichita, Kansas, November 10, 1881, a son
of Charles W. and Cornelia (Morse) Conklin. His father served as a
first lieutenant in the Union army during the Civil war, and for a time
was on the staff of General Thomas. For many years he lived at Wichita,
Kansas, and finally went to East Troy, Wisconsin, where he died in 1915.
Of a family of seven children only three sons are now living, including
Bert M., who grew to manhood in Wisconsin and attended public schools
and graduated from the East Division High School of Milwaukee. In
1901 he entered the University of Wisconsin, and for three years special-
ized as a student in metallurgy and mining. On leaving the university he
came to Minnesota in 1904 and his first employment was as a rod man
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DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1011
with the Oliver Iron Mining Company at Hibbing. Successively for about
a year he was engineer in charge of the Burt-Poole Mine, was engineer in
charge of the Burt-Poole, Sellers and Morris Mines for some twelve
months, then became night foreman of the Morris Pit, for about eighteen
months was night foreman at the Hull-Rust Mine, was day foreman of
the Rust Pit, and in the spring of 1911 first became identified with the
Great Northern Iron Ore properties as chief inspector of the Western
District. In 1913 these iron ore properties were constituted as an inde-
pendent industry, and at that stage Mr. Conklin was made district super-
intendent. In 1917 he was made district superintendent of the Interstate
Iron Company in charge of the Hill Annex and Mississippi Mines, but in
November, 1917, took charge of the interests of the Great Northern Iron
Ore properties as chief engineer for the Arthur Iron Mining Company.
Mr. Conklin is widely known among the mining engineers of northern
Minnesota, is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers
and the Engineers Club of Northern Minnesota. He belongs to the
Algonquin and Kiwanis Clubs of Hibbing, and is a Scottish Rite Mason.
September 22, 1906, he married Miss Frances Mae Alees, of Milwaukee.
Their three children are John Bert, Charles Lewis and Elen Elizabeth.
Clark Fisk Corey is a practical all around business man, has been a
resident of Hibbing nearly twenty years, and while his interests have not
been primarily associated with the great mining industry he has entered
actively Into the commercial affairs of the village in the real estate and
general insurance business, which he still carries on.
Mr. Corey was born at Montpelier, Vermont, March 17, 1872, son of
Russell A. and Lavinia (Fisk) Corey. His father was a Vermont farmer
until 1888, when he moved with his family to Nebraska and was engaged
in milling and later in the lumber business at Elwood, where he died in
1892. His widow has survived him nearly thirty years and is now living
in Vermont.
One of a family of four sons, all of whom are still living, Clark Fisk
Corey grew up in Montpelier, Vermont, graduated from the high school
there in 1888 and then accompanied his parents to Nebraska. He gradu-
ated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1894 with the A. B.
degree, and as a young college man found his first opportunities in the
banking business at LaCygne, Kansas, where for six years he was asso-
ciated with an uncle. Later he was chief clerk in the National Bank of
Commerce at Kansas City, Missouri, but in 1900 moved to Superior,
Wisconsin, where he had an interest with his three brothers in the retail
lumber business. In order to view the industries of the Range country he
came to northern Minnesota in 1901 and in the same fall located at Hib-
bing. Here for a time he was employed in looking after the business
interests of Mr. A. M. Chisholm, and this business association led to his
meeting in the same fall Miss Winnifred Cummings, sister of Mr. Chis-
holm. On November 10, 1902, they were married. Mr. Corey has been
a resident of Hibbing since 1901. During 1902 he was general office man
for the local branch of Pickands, Mather & Company, but in 1903
engaged in the real estate and insurance business, and still continues in
that line, with offices in the First National Bank of Hibbing. Mr. Corey
is a member of the Algonquin, Commercial and Kiwanis Clubs, is a
charter member and a past master of Mesaba Lodge No. 255, A. F. and
A. M., and has attained eighteen degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry. Mr.
and Mrs. Corey have one son, Clark Fisk, Jr.
Frank L. Magie. During his service as sheriff of St. Louis County
Frank L. Magie has handled many important and arduous responsibilities
Vol. Ill — 6
1012 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
in a manner creditable to himself and justifying the confidence of that
majority of citizens who chose him for this position.
Mr. Magie, who has long been well known in public and business
affairs at Duluth, was born at Chicago, Illinois, December 23, 1864, a son
of William and Eunice Magie. His father, a native of New Jersey, went
to Illinois early in life, for a time was a farmer, and then removed to
Chicago, where he was in the wholesale broom corn business. He spent
his last years at Pittsburg, Kansas, and served as a member of the Kan-
sas Legislature. He was a man of broad information and always enjoyed
the confidence of the community in which he lived.
Youngest of eight children, Frank L. Magie acquired his early educa-
tion in the public schools of Illinois and Kansas, and also attended school
at New Jersey. While in Kansas he had some experience in the cattle and
livestock business, and soon after coming to Duluth was appointed deputy
sheriff, an office he filled for twenty years and thus exercised many of the
responsibilities which he has today. He first became a candidate for
sheriff in 1914, being defeated by a small margin. The following four
years he looked after some varied interests and in 1918 again became a
candidate and was elected. He has a large circle of friends all over the
county, though his home for many years has been in the city of Duluth.
Mr. Magie is a Republican in politics and is a thirty-second degree
Scottish Rite Mason and an Elk. He married Miss Gaskill, and of the
four children born to their marriage two sons and one daughter are still
living.
Henry Fugere. Of the qualities of constructive citizenship and busi-
ness energy Henry Fugere has supplied a large share to the community
of Chisholm practically from the beginning of that village, and has been
a well known resident of the Range country of northern Minnesota for
the past twenty-three years.
Mr. Fugere was born at New Brunswick, Canada, October 26, 1868.
His father and grandfather were natives of eastern Canada, his grand-
father born in Xova Scotia of direct French ancestry. Boni Fugere,
father of the Chisholm business man, was born in New Brunswick and is
still living in that Province at the age of ninety-two. During his active
life he followed the trade of ship carpenter. He married Louise La Blanc,
and in their large family of thirteen children Henry was the fifth.
Henry Fugere spent his life on a farm in eastern Canada until he was
nineteen, and had such advantages as were supplied by the common
schools. On leaving home he went to Ottawa, and the following six
months worked in the lumber woods about two hundred miles from that
city. Coming then to the United States, he began an apprenticeship at the
carpenter's trade at Saginaw, Michigan, remained there two years, then
for a season or two was a ship's wheelman on the Great Lakes, and lived
a year at Alpena, Michigan, employed as a carpenter during the summer
and in the lumber camps in winter. Mr. Fugere came to Duluth in 1892.
After eighteen months of work as a carpenter in the city he lived for two
years at Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and in 1897 came to the Ranges, living
for a year and employed as a carpenter at Hibbing, and then going to
Eveleth, where he was associated with Al Bergeron in the building and
contracting business. Mr. Fugere moved to Chisholm in 1901, and with
that town as his headquarters has been engaged in an extensive business
as a carpenter and contractor ever since. He was also conducting a lum-
ber yard, which was destroyed by the conflagration that practically wiped
out the town in 1908. He was one of the leading volunteer firemen in
that holocaust. In fact Mr. Fugere has borne a large share of public
responsibilities at Chisholm ever since coming here. When he arrived on
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1013
the scene Chisholm consisted of three shacks, and he has literally and
figuratively been one of the constructive men in the community ever since.
He took out his first naturalization papers in 1892, and has been a full-
fledged American citizen since 1902. He is a Republican, has served as a
justice of the peace, as a member of the School Board, and in 1914 was
elected president of the village of Chisholm.
In 1904 he married Miss Annie Moran. Their eight children are
named Evelyn, Boni, Joy, Cecile, Isabel, Marie, Louis and Dorine.
George Hubert Alexander from the time he left high school has
been identified with the lumber industry, at first at Duluth but for a
number of years at Hibbing, where he organized and is president of the
Mesaba Lumber and Supply Company.
Mr. Alexander was born at Oconto, Wisconsin, February 20, 1888, a
son of William H. and Catharine (Good) Alexander. His parents lived
for many years at Oconto, where his father was engaged in lumbering,
but since 1891 they have made their home at Duluth.
George Hubert Alexander was three years old when he became a resi-
ident of Duluth, and acquired a grammar and high school education in
that city, graduating from high school with the class of 1907. Soon
afterward he was on duty as a timekeeper and scaler for the lumber firm
of Swallow & Hopkins at Winton, Minnesota. Later he was with the
Radford & Unight Lumber Company of Duluth, and in 1911 came to
Hibbing as an employe of the Hibbing Lumber Company. He remained
with that concern until 1916, when he engaged his own capital and ability
and the capital of his associates in the organization of the Mesaba Lumber
Company and has given that business a substantial place among the com-
mercial institutions of Hibbing.
Mr. Alexander has shown a public spirited attitude toward everything
affecting the growth and prosperity of his community. He is a director of
the Commercial Club, a member of the Kiwanis Club, is a Republican,
belongs to the Episcopal Church and is affiliated with the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks. January 22, 1913, he married Miss Josephine
E. Achterkirch, of Faribault, Minnesota. Their two children are William
Andrew and Elizabeth Ann.
Barney J. Medalie. Financial independence combined with public
esteem are worth great effort to right-minded men wherever they may be
found. To attain these America has offered opportunity, and sons of
other lands who have come to this country and accepted responsibilities
together with privileges are numbered with every community's best citi-
zens. Minnesota has attracted virile men from many countries of the
earth, and among those from far off Russia attention may be called to
Barney J. Medalie, who is a solid business man and highly respected citi-
zen of the prosperous village of Buhl.
The story of Barney J. Medalie is exceedingly interesting, illustrating
as it does the determination and resourcefulness of his character and the
stable elements whereby he has successfully built up a large business and
• secured the confidence and respect of all with whom he has been associ-
ated. He was born September 14, 1881, in Lithuania, a Baltic province,
the second of a family of six children born to Jacob and Bertha (Gluck-
man) Medalie. Both parents were born in Russia and were of Jewish
extraction. His mother survives but his father has passed away. The
latter was a highly educated man, a teacher by profession.
Barney J. Medalie was carefully educated and had private tutors who
instructed him in four languages, but by the time he was sixteen years of
age circumstances had arisen that changed the family prospects and re-
1014 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
suited in his venturing far from his native province. He sailed to Johan-
nesburg, British South Africa, arriving there just at the outbreak of the
Boer war. Refugees were Mocking to Cape Town, and Mr. Medahe
thought it best to accompany them. There he entered a school in order
to learn English, his former instruction in languages not including this
tongue, and was placed in the third grade, where he applied himself so dili-
gently that within three weeks he was promoted to the fifth grade. Feel-
ing that he was not making sufficiently rapid headway and with good
judgment far beyond his years he secured employment in an English res-
taurant as a waiter, where he remained for seven months, then found a
position as wine steward in the City Club, in which capacity he served for
ten months. In 1902 he became a naturalized English subject, immedi-
ately after which he was given a permit to return to Johannesburg. There
he remained for two years conducting a candy and drink store, then
opened a general store eight miles out of the city. After two years he
left his brother, M. A. Medalie, in charge of that store and returned to
Lithuania to visit his parents.
It was while he was in his old home that Mr. Medalie received a letter
from his Uncle Sapero, who was established in the village of Chisholm,
Minnesota, urging him to join him in the United States, and this invita-
tion and encouragement led Mr. Medalie to change his earlier plans and
come to America. He reached Chisholm, Minnesota, in 1911, and shortly
afterward opened a candy store at Gilbert, where the waiting station for
the Mesaba electric road now stands, for which road he was made the
first agent. He carried on business there for four years, then sold out
advantageously and went to the eastern seaboard and remained in Phila-
delphia for ten months. In the meanwhile M. A. Medalie had also come
to the United States, and he and Mr. Sapero had opened a dry goods
store at Buhl, Minnesota, and on returning from Pennsylvania Barney J.
Medalie bought his uncle's interest in this business. In February, 1918,
the brothers bought a grocery store, then removed their dry goods store
to the building adjoining the grocery, made other changes and improve-
ments and now have the largest and leading department store at Buhl.
They have wide patronage and enjoy the reputation of being thoroughly
dependable business men.
On October 3, 1911, Mr. Medalie was married to Sarah Klaff, who
was born in Russia, of Jewish parentage. She and Mr. Medalie were
attached friends in Russia, and after feeling himself well established in
business he sent for her to join him and they married in Delaware. They
have two children : Vivian Constance, aged six years ; and Ethel Beatrice,
aged four years. Mr. Medalie and his family are of the Orthodox Jewish
faith. When he came to the United States he brought a younger brother
with him and placed him in school at Buhl, and four years later, when the
youth was through high school, sent him to the University of Minnesota,
where he was graduated from the dental department and is now in active
practice at Buhl. Aside from commendable actions of personal nature,
much praise must be accorded Mr. Medalie for many exhibitions of char-
ity and benevolence in a general way. During the World war he was
indefatigable in his efforts to assist all patriotic movements. In 1916 he
became a naturalized American citizen, and in his political attitudes a Dem-
ocrat. He belongs to the Hebrew organization of B'nai B'rith. both at
Hibbing and Chisholm, and is a member and past commander of lodge
No. 232 of the Odd Fellows at Buhl.
David Tristram Collins. An important share of the legal business
originating at Hibbing has been handled by David Tristram Collins, one
of the older members of the local bar and one of the ablest attorneys in
St. Louis County.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1015
Mr. Collins represents an old and prominent American family, tracing
his ancestry back to Benjamin Collins, who came from England and estab-
lished a home at Salisbury, Massachusetts, about 1660. Benjamin Collins
married Martha Eaton. The second generation was represented by John
Collins, who married Elizabeth Barnard; the third by Benjamin Collins,
who married Mary Jones; the fourth by Tristram Collins, who married
Rachel Hunt ; the fifth by Henry Collins, who married Sarah Kelley ; the
sixth by Tristram Collins, who married Emilia Severance ; the seventh by
Josiah Norris Collins, who married Frances Jane Kent; while David
Tristram Collins, the Hibbing lawyer, is of the eighth generation. The
second Tristram Collins moved west to Wisconsin, was a farmer and car-
penter and died at Wautoma in 1889. This family has produced many
individuals in successive generations of honest, law-abiding people, loyal
Americans, and on the whole each a credit to their community. Some of
the more notable members of different generations were Governor John
Collins, of Connecticut ; Gilbert Collins, of the Supreme Court of New
Jersey ; Loren W. Collins, of the Supreme Bench of Minnesota ; Judge
Loren C. Collins, of Chicago, and several who became eminent physicians
and surgeons.
David Tristram Collins was born at Menasha, Wisconsin, January 6,
1879, being one of the five children, all living but one, of Josiah N. and
Frances Jane (Kent) Collins. His father was born in New Hampshire
and his mother in New York state of English stock. Josiah N. Collins
was a chair manufacturer in the great wood working city of Menasha,
Wisconsin, subsequently conducted a hotel at Florence, Wisconsin, for
two years was in the contracting business at Kaukauna, Wisconsin, and
in 1887 moved to Gladstone, Michigan, then a village in the woods of the
Northern Peninsula of Michigan, and continued contracting until his
death in 1904.
David Tristram Collins spent his early life in the several towns of
Wisconsin and Michigan where his father lived, acquired a good educa-
tion in public schools, and during summer vacations worked as an office
boy for Daniel Willard, then trainmaster and assistant superintendent of
the Soo Line Railway. Daniel Willard in subsequent years became one
of America's foremost railway executives, and is now president of the
Baltimore & Ohio system. Through the influence of Mr. Willard young
Collins was led to expend his efforts toward a better education and gradu-
ally abandoned his first ambitions for a railroading career. In 1899 he
removed to Minneapolis, where he began reading law with the firm of
Nye & Deutsch. In 1900 he enrolled in the law school of the University
of Minnesota, and continued his studies until admitted to the bar in 1903.
While in the University Law School he had some special opportunities for
practical training in the law office of Keith, Evans, Thompson & Fair-
child at Minneapolis, and after admission to the bar continued with that
firm until September, 1904. Mr. Collins then took up the private practice
of his profession at East Grank Forks, Minnesota, and remained there five
years, four and a half years of that time as city attorney.
In February, 1909, Mr. Collins removed to Hibbing and since the first
of March of that year has been busily engaged in an extensive practice.
Much of his time has been devoted to his engagements as an attorney for
the Oliver Iron Mining Company and other corporations, and he has
handled many of the real estate deals whereby the village of Hibbing is
being gradually moved to make way for the mining operations under the
original village site.
During the World war he served as food administrator for the Hib-
bing District and was also one of the Four Minute Men speakers and
assistant chief of the American Protective League at Hibbing. Governor
1016 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Burnquist appointed him a member of the Free Legal Aid Board of the
Hibbing District. He is a Republican in politics, is a Scottish Rite Mason,
a Shriner was worshipful master in 1920 of Mesaba Lodge No. 255, A. F.
and A. M., and is also affiliated with the order of Elks. His church
membership is with the Congregational Society. _ _
July 14 1908, Mr. Collins married Jennie M. Myers, of Virginia,
Minnesota.' At her death, June 9, 1913, she left one son, named James
Norris Collins. On May 4, 1918, Mr. Collins married Hazel A. Rawson,
of Portage, Wisconsin.
W. N. Hart, president of the Kelley Duluth Company, has had forty-
odd years of experience qualifying him for his present responsibilities.
His personal experience has taken him through the many details of a
manufacturer, office and salesman in some of the large wholesale and
retail houses, as a traveling salesman, and for a number of years past in
general control of one of the firms that have made the Duluth wholesale
and retail district known all over the northwest.
Mr. Hart was born at Green Bay, Wisconsin,' December 31, 1862. His
father, A. Hart, a native of Connecticut, was a cabinet maker in early life,
but on going to Green Bay in the early days before the railroad reached
there, turned his attention to the building and operating of sail and
steamboats. Youngest of six children, W. N. Hart was educated in the
public schools of Green Bay, and up to the time of his father's death,
which occurred in 1881, spent his spare time preparing for a position as a
lake captain. His father's death changed this, as in order to be with his
mother, of whom he was then the sole support, he entered the employ of
a hardware firm at Green Bay owned by a Mr. J. J. St. Louis, where he
remained for seven years, going from there to the larger concern of W. D.
Cooke, who operated both wholesale and retail. Here he represented the
firm on the road a larger part of the following nine years.
Removing to Chicago, he became a traveling salesman for a prominent
wholesale hardware house of that city, but in 1897 returned to Green Bay
and with a salesman from a Milwaukee jobbing house established a whole-
sale jobbing house in that city which later was re-organized as the pres-
ent Morley-Murphy Hardware Company.
In 1904 Mr. Hart came to Duluth as the first salesmanager for the
Kelley-How-Thomson Company, leaving there in 1909 to take charge of
the Kelley Hardware Company, now known as the Kelley Duluth Com-
pany.
Mr. Hart is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of
the Commercial Club, the Duluth Boat Club, the Duluth Curling Club and
for several years has served as a trustee of the Pilgrim Congregational
Church. Mr. Hart is married and has a family of two sons and two
daughters.
Robert Murray. As an organization of capital, equipment and ex-
pert personnel, Pickands, Mather & Company, while primarily a Cleveland
concern, is a business organization of national reputation and for many
years as managers, owners and operators of iron ore properties have been
vitally identified with the iron ranges of northern Minnesota and Michi-
gan. The general superintendent of the Central District for this com-
pany on the Mesaba Range is Robert Murray. Mr. Murray acquired his
first acquaintance with the Mesaba Range thirty years ago, and is one of
the practical experts on the staff of Pickands, Mather & Company.
He was born in Ontonagon County, Michigan, October 18, 1868. His
father, Robert Murray, was born and reared in Scotland, acquired a prac-
tical mining experience in his native country, and then came to Canada
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DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1017
and was employed in the Bruce Mines near Sault Ste. Marie in the Prov-
ince of Ontario. He married there Mary Mclntyre, also a native of Scot-
land, and on coming to the United States lived in the copper country of
Michigan for a time, then on the iron ranges at Negaunee, and worked in
the old rolling mill at that place. During the winter of 1874-75 he was in
the copper mines on Isle Royal, Michigan, later in Houghton County,
Michigan, and became widely known all over the mining districts of that
state. He died in 1902 and his wife in 1915.
One of five children, three of whom are still living, Robert Murray,
Jr., grew up in various communities where the family residence was main-
tained according to the occupations and the interests of his father. He
acquired some of his early education at Isle Royal, and graduated from
the Lake Linden High School at Lake Linden, Michigan, in 1889. It was
in the spring of 1890 that Mr. Murray first came to the Mesaba Range.
For a few months he worked on the diamond drill for E. J. Longyear,
and then with two other companions crossed the Range from St. Louis
River Station on the Duluth & Iron River Railroad to Grand Rapids. Not
long afterward he returned to northern Michigan and entered the Michi-
gan College of Mines at Houghton. He pursued the regular technical
course in that institution, was graduated in 1895, and then took up his
professional career as a mining engineer and chemist for the Loretto Iron
Company at Loretto, Michigan. Subsequently he was mining engineer for
the Menominee Exploration Company at Crystal Falls, Michigan. The
Menominee Company was a subsidiary corporation of the Pickands,
Mather & Company, and thus for over twenty years Mr. Murray has been
identified with that corporation. In December, 1899, the same company
sent him to Michipicoten, Canada, as superintendent of exploration and
diamond drill work. His services for several years required a wide range
of travel and service at various points in the United States and Canada.
For a time he was engaged in the exploration of the Dog River mining
claims in Canada. During 1902 his official duties brought him to the
Mesaba Range and northern Minnesota, and since 1904 his home and
headquarters have been at Hibbing. His first duties in this district were
as superintendent of the Albany and Utica Mines operated by the Crete
Mining Company, another subsidiary of Pickands, Mather & Company.
In 1910, when the Scranton Mine was started, general offices were
located at the latter plant, and about that time Mr. Murray was appointed
general superintendent of the Central District for the company, in active
charge of the Scranton Mine.
Mr. Murray is a member of the Lake Superior Institute of Mining
Engineers. He is a member of the Algonquin Club of Hibbing, has at-
tained the eighteenth degree of Scottish Rite Masonry and is a Republican
voter. June 29, 1903, he married Miss Gertrude E. Buttinger, of Esca-
naba, Michigan. Their family of seven children are Robert, Helen,
Clayton, Katherine, John, Ann and James.
Simon Sapero. The community of Chisholm had hardly begun to
take form as an adjunct of local mining activities and no village charter
had yet been granted when Simon Sapero identified himself with the
locality. He is one of Chisholm's oldest citizens, a veteran merchant, and
has given the benefit of his wise counsel and leadership in times of pros-
perity and in times of stress. He was born in Wekschne, Russia, Septem-
ber 10, 1865, and grew up in his native country, acquiring a public school
education. By the time he was nineteen he had reached the conclusion
that Russia offered him no future. He was looking for a country where
worth might achieve equality with his fellowmen, where he could establish
a home and rear a family and know that opportunities would not be
1018 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
denied them in advance. There was only one logical choice to make and
that was immigration to the United States.
For about four years after coming to America he lived in Maryland,
and as a peddler acquired a knowledge of the English language and
adapted himself to the customs and institutions of the New World. His
next home was in Chicago, where for about ten years he employed his
energies chiefly in wholesale houses and laid a sound foundation of
commercial experience. While there he took out naturalization papers.
Mr. Sapero came to the Iron Range district of northern Minnesota in
1900. His first residence was in Virginia, where he entered the furniture
and hardware business. About a month later occurred a conflagration
which destroyed the village and his store, stock and other possessions.
With that misfortune he did not despair, though it was necessary to begin
all over again. Therefore in 1901, the year that saw the official birth
of Chisholm, he moved to that town and built the first building on Main
street. Just seven years later his business property, valued at over twelve
thousand dollars, was again destroyed in the fire that left hardly a trace
of Chisholm. But he was one of the first to return and begin the task
of rebuilding, and both before and since that fire he has been one of
Chisholm's sturdiest and most resourceful citizens and has not only pros-
pered as a merchant but has borne his full share of responsibilities in
connection with community advancement. Besides his dry goods and
general merchandise establishment at Chisholm he has a branch estab-
lishment at Thief River Falls and another at Hibbing. Mr. Sapero
removed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in April, 1921, and resides at Oak
Grove Hotel. He is associated with the Northern State Bank in that
city, and is now managing the insurance department of this bank, but
still retains his interests in St. Louis County, Minnesota.
Mr. Sapero has never sought public office though deeply interested in
all matters affecting the local welfare. He was active during the World
war in promoting the sale of Liberty Bonds, Red Cross drives and relief
work. He was one of the local citizens to start the building of the Jewish
Synagogue, and for eight years was president of that organization.
Mr. Sapero is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of
the Shrine, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is active in the
Commercial Club.
In 1888, in Baltimore, Maryland, he married Miss Rosa Rabinowitz.
Eight children have been born to their marriage : Moses, Abraham, Mary,
Esther, Sol, Molly, Hazel and Harlan. Mary is the wife of J. E. Brill,
a well known Minneapolis attorney. The daughter Esther is the wife
of Max Wain, of Chisholm. The son Sol was a student in the University
of Minnesota during the war and trained with the colors as a member
of the Student Army Training Corps.
William C. Northey. Among the men who occupy high and promi-
nent positions in the Iron Range district in northern Minnesota is William
C. Northey, superintendent of the Mahoning Mine of the Mahoning Ore
and Steel Company at Hibbing. Mr. Northey has been a practical mining
man for many years, grew up in the industry, and has been a resident
of northern Minnesota for over twenty years.
He was born at Rockland, Michigan, June 23, 1862, son of William
and Isabella (MacKee) Northey, of English and Scotch ancestry. His
father was for many years engaged in the mining industry both in the
United States and in Canada. In a family of eight children six are still
living.
William C. Northey at the age of five years accompanied his parents
to Cableton, Quebec, Canada, later to Kingstown, Ontario, where he
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1019
attended his first school, and then to Crown Point, New York, where
he lived for twenty years and where he completed his education in the
public schools.
At the age of sixteen Mr. Northey went to work in the iron mines
of the Crown Point Iron Company and later with the Witherbee-Sherman
Company at Mineville, New York, and elsewhere, and during the next
fifteen or twenty years gained practically every experience in the equip-
ment of a full fledged mining man. He came to the Range country of
northern Minnesota in 1898, and was first employed as chief clerk of the
Oliver Iron Mining Company at Mountain Iron. A year later as superin-
tendent for the American Steel and Wire Company he opened the Soun-
try-Alpena Mine at Virginia, but in 1900 was transferred to Hibbing
and as superintendent of the same corporation opened the Clark and
Chisholm Mines. Following that he temporarily abandoned the mining
industry and from 1902 to 1906 was engaged in merchandising at Hibbing.
In 1906 he became chief clerk for the Mahoning Ore & Steel Company,
and has been steadily in the service of that corporation for fifteen years,
and since January 1, 1918, its superintendent at Hibbing.
Mr. Northey has made his influence felt as a citizen in several localities
where he has lived. He was particularly identified with the early develop-
ment of Chisholm, and upon the organization of the village government
was honored by election as the first president of the village. He is a
Republican in politics, is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is a
Scottish Rite Mason.
On July 26, 1883, Mr. Northey married Miss Carolyn Moore, of
Ogdensburg, New York. Five children were born to their marriage:
F.thel, wife of Rollin N. Dow, of Minneapolis ; Marguerite, who died in
infancy ; Melvin T., who had a record of service with the navy during
the World war; William C, Jr., who died at the age of seven months;
and Thornton M.
Odin A. Sundness, chief chemist for the Shenango Furnace Com-
pany, is a young man with all the requisite qualifications for filling an
important and responsible position, and a citizen of standing in his com-
munity. He was born at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, January 12, 1888, a
son of Nicholas E. and Sophia (Sehm) Sundness. Nicholas E. Sundness
was a native of Norway, where he was reared and educated, and from
which he immigrated in the later 70s to the United States. After his
arrival in this country he took out naturalization papers, and resided here
the remainder of his life, making Minnesota his home and going from
Minneapolis to Fergus Falls after a year's residence in the former city.
Reared at Fergus Falls, Odin A. Sundness was graduated from its
high school course in 1906, and then entered the School of Mines of the
University of Minnesota and there spent three years. Portions of the
years 1907 and 1908 were spent in the mines of Montana and Idaho,
where he obtained a practical knowledge of underground mining. In the
spring of 1909 he came to the Mesaba Range of northern Minnesota and
secured a position with the Oliver Iron Mining Company at Eveleth as
mining engineer, which position he held for two years, when he severed
his connection with the Oliver Iron Mining Company and accepted a
position as mining engineer of the Whiteside Mine at Buhl for the Shen-
ango Furnace Company. In the fall of that same year, he was trans-
ferred to the Shenango Mine at Chisholm, where he continued work as
a mining engineer until July, 1912, at which time he was made chief
chemist in charge of the laboratory, grading department, and all ore ship-
ments, and is still holding this position. In addition to this he was made
chief engineer of this company October 1, 1920. Mr. Sundness is a
1020 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
member of the Engineers Club of Northern Minnesota, and the American
Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. He is a Mason and
a member of the Kiwanis Club of Chisholm. His political convictions
make him a Republican. The Lutheran Church has in him a faithful
member.
On September 15, 1915, Mr. Sundness was united in marriage with
Miss Olive Strand, of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and they have one daugh-
ter, Margaret Josephine. While Mr. Sundness has been too much occupied
with his business cares to think of entering the public arena, he takes
an intelligent interest in civic matters and is deeply interested in the
remarkable expansion of this region, and proud of the fact that he has
been associated with this development.
Archie McDougall has one of the oldest plumbing businesses in
northern Minnesota, and for over thirty years has followed that trade
and profession and has installed a large share of the plumbing, steam
and hot water heating plants in Duluth homes and business buildings.
He was born in Ontario, Canada, a son of Duncan McDougall. His
father was a building contractor, and for thirteen years followed his busi-
ness in North Dakota. Later he was in the same business in Duluth until
1891, and in that year removed to Chicago, where he remained until his
death in 1908.
The fourth child of a family of ten children, Archie McDougall was
educated in Canada and Duluth, he having come to this city in 1882.
At the age of thirteen was working in a sawmill. He also worked on
farms, and in 1888 engaged in the plumbing business at Duluth, a line
he has followed ever since. His shop and offices are at 4033^ East
Superior street. Previous to his entering the plumbing business he was
employed by C. F. Johnson in the stationery business.
Mr. McDougall is affiliated with the Clan Stewart of the Scottish
Clans, and is a Knight of Pythias and Elk. On August 15, 1894, he
married Miss M. D. Curtis*
Mr. Archie McDougall always took a deep interest in baseball, he
having organized the first uniformed baseball club in Duluth, in 1886,
the team playing clubs from nearby cities and towns, in which great
rivalry existed. The club which Mr. McDougall organized was called
The Zenith City Baseball Club. It was a wonderful success from a play-
ing standpoint. The team was composed of the following players
Hector McDougall, first base; Eddie Connelly, second base; Archie
McDougall, short stop and captain; Will Hall, third base; Frank Hall,
right field; Dan McDougall, center field; Frank Drake, left field; Charles
Mallison, pitcher; and Jack Neff, catcher. George Hughes, William
McGowan and Frank Nathan were reserves. Mr. McDougall is a member
of the Old Settlers Association.
Eli S. Woolfan went to Hibbing less than a decade after the original
townsite was surveyed, and has been continuously in business there as a
dry goods merchant for seventeen years, and therefore one of the pioneers
in the commercial history of the community.
Mr. Woolfan, whose name has always been associated with public
spirited citizenship, was born in Russia September 15, 1864, son of Wil-
liam and Mary Woolfan. While he had no opportunity to get the equiv-
alent of an American college education, his training was unusually good
and thorough in the old country. At the age of eleven he left home to
attend school at Vilna, where he studied Hebrew, Russian, German and
Polish languages. During his fifteenth year he went to England, and
while working acquired a knowledge of the English tongue.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1021
He was about seventeen when he crossed the Atlantic to Canada,
and for the first year made his home at Montreal. He peddled goods
in and out of that city, and from his earnings assisted his parents and
brothers and sisters to leave Russia and come to Canada. Mr. Woolfan
about 1882 removed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and during his residence
of five years in that city acquired his papers as a naturalized American.
He was in the peddling business at Pittsburgh, and on leaving that city
spent five years at St. Paul, at first continuing as a peddler, later as a
tailor, and eventually had a disastrous financial experience in the wood
and coal business. Leaving St. Paul, he was a resident of Superior,
Wisconsin, for about twelve years, and conducted a tailoring and haber-
dashery enterprise. Mr. Woolfan came to Hibbing in the fall of 1902,
but was unable to procure a building and open a stock of dry goods until
February, 1903. His store has been a growing center of trade, and besides
his work as a merchant he has had much to do with the ownership and
development of local real estate. Among other properties he owns four
hundred acres in St. Louis County and is one of the owners of the Mesaba
Addition to Hibbing. This addition is advantageously situated with refer-
ence to the progressive movement of the village to the south to make
way for mining operations.
Mr. Woofan's life has been one of many adversities, but through all
his courage has never wavered and by persistence he has achieved fully
the substance of prosperity. At Superior he lost his first wife, whose
maiden name was Bessie Bloom. She was survived by five children.
The maiden name of his present wife was Etta Ziskin. Mr. Woolfan
has proved himself an American in every sense of the word, and so far
as his ability permitted has contributed to the institutions and the move-
ments for the betterment of the community. In 1902 he was a delegate
to the state convention in Wisconsin. For three years he served as a
member of the Hibbing Board of Health and is now a justice of the
peace. He is a Republican, is a past chancellor commander of the Knights
of Pythias, a member of the B'nai B'rith, and at St. Paul, Superior
and Hibbing helped build churches of his faith. He is now president
of the Jewish congregation at Hibbing and also president of the local
Zionist movement. Mr. Woolfan's children are N. P. ; Belle, wife of
Samuel Siegel ; Abe B. ; Fay, wife of H. L. Nides ; and Emanuel B.
Emanuel B. Woolfan was the first of the Jewish boys to enlist from
Hibbing, serving in the Medical Corps, though his time was all spent
in local camps on this side of the ocean. He is a graduate of Rush
Medical College of Chicago.
Bror Magnusson. It is a revelation of the possibilities of American
life and of individual ambition and enterprise to contrast briefly the begin-
ning and the present status of Bror Magnusson's career in this country.
He arrived here and did his first work in the east as a coachman and
gardener, nearly thirty years ago identified himself with northern Minne-
sota, still in a humble capacity as an employe, but his capabilities have
expanded with his opportunities and there is probably not a better known
business man in the Chisholm district than Bror Magnusson, who is
occupied with extensive farming interests and is also president of the
Chisholm State Bank.
Mr. Magnusson was born February 4, 1867, on his father's farm
about two miles from Jonkoping, State of Smoland, Sweden. His father,
A. J. Magnusson, was born January 1, 1832, at Werstergotland, Sweden,
and lived in that vicinity all his life, until his death in 1907. Farming
and lumbering occupied his time and energies up to the last ten years,
during which period he was a commission merchant. About 1856 he
1022 DULUTH AXD ST. LOUIS COUNTY
married Miss Christian Charlotte Stomberg, of the same section of
Sweden. She was born February 13, 1836, and died in 1909.
Sixth among eleven children Bror Magnusson acquired a common
school education and spent four years in the high school at Jonkoping.
At the same time he was performing a share in the duties on his father's
farm, and so continued for two years after leaving school, until he was
eighteen. At that date he sailed to Quebec and from Quebec went directly
to Boston, where he spent two years earning a living and acquiring a
knowledge of American language and ways as gardener and coachman
for a private family. Even more extended opportunities were offered him
during the next two years when he was a street car conductor. On
March 29, 1891, Mr. Magnusson left the east for Ely, Minnesota, for the
purpose of joining and assisting his brother-in-law, then cashier of the
bank at Ely. Soon afterward he served a year as clerk in the hardware
store of P. R. Vail, and following that for about a year was grocery
clerk with the firm of Anderson and Korb. The panic of 1893 proved a
depressing influence over all this section, and Mr. Magnusson in the
interval returned to Boston and for three years worked in a vinegar fac-
tory. Then, in 1896, he returned to northern Minnesota and for two
years was again in the employ of Anderson & Korb, following which he
formed a partnership with Globokar & Pehlgren in the retail grocery
business at Ely. This establishment was sold in 1902, and at that date
Mr. Magnusson identified himself with Chisholm, resuming the retail
grocery business. For two years he had an establishment on Lake street,
and in the meantime invested some of his accumulations in vacant prop-
erty at the corner of Lake and Second avenue, on which he erected a
store building. This was in the path of the devouring flames in the
great fire of September, 1908. Soon after the fire he rebuilt on the site
a fine building, which at the time was one of only two such structures
in the town. This building he leased to the firm of Lundall & Sons
for five years, and in the meantime he entered the feed and grain busi-
ness, which he continued for three years. He had also acquired a farm
in Balkan township, and improved it with buildings and other facilities,
cleared up the land and put it in cultivation, and after three years as a feed
and grain merchant was prepared to give his entire attention to farming.
Mr. Magnusson has been a banker at Chisholm for the past six years.
He organized in December. 1914, and became president of the Chisholm
State Bank, which opened its doors February 15, 1915. He is still the
executive officer of this substantial institution, which has played a notable
part in the financial life of Chisholm since it was founded. In the fall
of 1915 Mr. Magnusson resumed business as a grocery merchant, but sold
bis store in February, 1920, and now divides his time between his farm
and the bank.
Mr. Magnusson acquired naturalization as an American citizen in
1897, and is thoroughly American in fact as well as in name. Politically
he supports the Democratic party and is a member of the Lutheran
Church. In November, 1901, he married Miss Ellen K. Lalin, who was
born February 10, 1876, at Uleaborg, Finland. Their five children are
Magnus, Lellia, Elaine, Arthur and Arline.
William Munro. In the quiet relation of the leading activities of
an eventful life of more than seventy years there is so much to interest
that visitors are apt to linger along under the hospitable roof of William
Munro, one of Chisholm's well known capitalists and retired business
men. For many years he was a prominent figure in mining circles
throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, Wyoming and Nevada, and in some
mineral sections was one of the pioneers. In public life he is also well
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1023
known, long having been a man of influence in relation to national politics
and the leading questions of the day.
William Munro was born July 25, 1844, seven miles from London,
Ontario, Canada. His parents were Neil and Flora (Hair) Munro,
the former of whom was born in Argyleshire, Scotland, October 1, 1818,
and the latter in 1822. Both emigrated to Canada about 1830 and were
married there in 1839. They had nine children, William being the third
in order of birth. The father was engaged in farming in Ontario until
1848, when he moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he continued
to farm until 1852, moving then to Grand Haven, where he engaged in
the lumber business until retiring, his death occurring in 1884. The
mother of Mr. Munro died in 1890.
William Munro had school privileges both at Grand Rapids and Grand
Haven, but from the age of twelve years largely provided for his own
support. His first job was packing shingles in a sawmill, gradually
taking on other responsibilities, and by the time he was twenty-one years
old was thoroughly familiar with sawmill operations. In 1865, in asso-
ciation with a brother, he built a mill seven miles distant from Green Bay,
Wisconsin, which they conducted for ten years, in the meanwhile acquir-
ing other interests, dealing in real estate and operating a hotel and a
general store and additionally had a lease on an iron mine at Ishpeming,
Michigan. They had every reason to be satisfied with their prospects
until the financial panic of 1873 struck the country, and notwithstanding
their strenuous efforts during the next five years of business stringency
they lost all their possessions.
In 1880 Mr. Munro went to work as superintendent of a sawmill at
Ogontz Bay, later at Laney and still later at Barronett, Wisconsin, remain-
ing at the last named point for two years. From there he went to Drum-
mond, Wisconsin, where he took a shingle contract for the summer and
later took similar contracts at Eau Claire and Haywood. In 1886 Mr.
Munro was called to Superior to become superintendent of a sawmill, and
resided at Superior for five years, during this time becoming active in civic
affairs and interested in realty.
It was about this time that Mr. Munro went into partnership with
Frank Hibbing, who had been his valued employe at Green Bay, and they
started work in the Garden Lake Iron mine near Ely, Minnesota, but
the venture did not succeed. In 1902, with Mr. Hibbing and eight other
men, he obtained possession of some land which is the present site of
the village of Hibbing and formed an organization known as the Lake
Superior Iron Mining Company. This was a large enterprise and took
time to develop. When other members of the company dispaired of find-
ing workable ore on the tract it was through Mr. Munro's faith and
perseverance that its presence was finally demonstrated, and furthermore
he insisted that there was iron also at a certain point not far distant
from where the company was operating. Although Mr. Hibbing did
not share in Mr. Munro's opinion, he was induced to go with him and
make the test which resulted in the discovery of the famous Hull Mine.
The company was forced by public financial stringency to sell their inter-
est to the Rockefeller people, Mr. Munro receiving the sum of $20,000
for his one-tenth interest, which today would probably be worth
$5,000,000.
Following the closing out of this venture Mr. Munro served one year
as purchasing agent for the Webster Manufacturing Company of Supe-
rior. He then returned to the Range and drilled unsuccessfully for ore
on the present site of Nashwauk. He spent six weeks there, and during
this time presided as chairman at the organization of the village. From
there he went to where the village of old Mesaba stands as a prospector
1024 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
for the Niagara Mining Company, but after eight weeks the company
allowed their lease to lapse and Mr. Munro took it, and with D. M. Filben
made an agreement with Mr. Hill, who was financing the experiment, to
receive a two-third interest. He operated the mine for eighteen months
and then sold his interest to Mr. Hill. He then went to Wyoming and
from there to Goldfield, Nevada, arriving there October 1, 1908. He
prospected for gold and silver and with his son, the late Colin Munro,
and two other men took up six claims, all of which they worked. Finding,
however, that this hard life was dangerously affecting his eyesight, Mr.
Munro decided to give up mining and accompanied by his son Colin
came to Chisholm, where he has been established ever since. With the
assistance of his son Archie he takes care of his investments, including
those left him by his son Colin A., who died December 24, 1919.
Mr. Munro was married at Green Bay October 1, 1867, to Miss Eliza-
beth Athey, who was born in Brown County, Wisconsin, of an old
American family, and the following children were born to them : Colin
A., who was a young man widely known and greatly respected and active
both in business and politics ; William R. ; Charles Neil, who died of
an illness contracted during the Spanish-American war, in which he was
a soldier ; Archie R. ; Wallace M. ; and Flora J., who is deceased.
During the greater part of his life Mr. Munro has been recognized
by his fellow citizens as a leader, his energy and vigor, his foresight and
good judgment impressing every community in which he lived for any
length of time. He was a member of the first Village Council of Superior
and also of the first City Council, of which he was president one year.
He was treasurer of the School Board for two years, being the only
incumbent of that office that ever served without giving bond. In 1904
he was the candidate of the Populist party for Congress and although
defeated made an excellent showing because of his personal popularity.
He has been a student of political questions for many years and in 1896
stumped his congressional district in the interest of Hon. William J.
Bryan. At present he maintains an independent attitude but is keenly
alive to the great questions of the day. Mr. Munro has long been identi-
fied with the order of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the Presbyterian
Church.
Gonzague L. Thouin. A pioneer of the early nineties in the North-
ern Range District of Minnesota, Gonzague L. Thouin is one of Hibbing's
best known and most public spirited citizens, and has had a range of
experience that covers nearly every phase of the industrial and commercial
development of this region.
Mr. Thouin is of French Canadian ancestry, was born in Canada
December 25, 1877, and his parents, Solomon and Elodie Thouin, were
natives of the same country. From Canada the family moved to the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan about 1879, living first on the site of
Marquette and later moving to Crystal Falls. At Crystal Falls Solomon
Thouin conducted a hotel until his death.
Gonzague L. Thouin was next to the youngest in a large family of
thirteen children, seven of whom are still living. He acquired a public
school education and at sixteen was earning his own living as clerk in
a store. Not long afterward, in 1893, he came to the Mesaba Range in
Northern Minnesota, his first home being at Virginia. Early in 1894 he
began as a stripper for the contracting firm of Drake & Stratton, his
first employment being as a brakeman on a stripping or dinky engine,
then as fireman on a steam shovel, as craneman and finally engineer. He
remained with Drake & Stratton in these various grades of responsibilities
until 1907, and during that time helped strip the Biwabik, Stevenson.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1025
Morris and Kenney Mines. Since 1909 Mr. Thouin has had his home
at Hibbing. For two years after leaving Drake & Stratton he was
steam shovel engineer for the Stevenson Iron Mining Company, but
on coming to Hibbing he left mining and engaged in the retail hardware
business, and for ten years has been one of the chief merchants of the
village.
A successful business man, he has applied his experience and abilities
to the service of his community. For three years he was on the Water
and Light Board of the village and was one of the men instrumental in
the erection of the present splendid municipal power plant. The power
plant was first put in operation while he was president of the board. Mr.
Thouin is a Republican in politics, and he and his wife are active members
of the Catholic Church. April 24, 1908, he married Belle C. Tobin, of
Florence, Wisconsin. The eight children born into their home are Lucile,
Isabelle, James, Louise, Winnifred, Marjorie, Lawrence and Joseph.
John F. Killorin. One of the trail-blazers of St. Louis County,
John F. Killorin, of Duluth, is today the personification of a life well
lived, of energies well directed, of a mind tuned to the harmony of his
surroundings and of a heart which has lost nothing of its warmth and
sympathy in its journey from the hardships of pioneer days to the
affluence of the twentieth century. This vigorous personality, outlined
against the background of the lumber industry since the early days, com-
mands the confidence and respect of as large a following as any
who have helped to redeem the wilderness of this part of the state. He
has built up character as well as fortune, and has supported the substantial
and fundamental processes of civilization.
Mr. Killorin was born July 4, 1850, in Canada. His parents, Thomas
and Mary (Gallagher) Killorin, were born in Ireland and married in
Canada, to which country they came when young, and there rounded out
useful and honorable careers. John F. Killorin received his early educa-
tion in the country schools of Richmond, Ontario, and his boyhood train-
ing was all on the home farm. To the ambitious youth this was not
satisfactory, and his idea and bent was to get out in the great world
and build for himself. Accordingly, in 1868 he came to the United
States, thinking to better his condition, and at Saginaw, Michigan,
became a common laborer at lumbering. He continued working in the
different branches of lumbering in Michigan and Minnesota until 1906.
During this time he also helped to build a logging road in Michigan for
the A. W. Wright Lumber Company. In 1892 he came to St. Louis
County, Minnesota, and for the same company helped build the Swan
River Logging Road from Mississippi to Hibbing, this being the first
road to the latter point. Mr. Killorin helped to operate this road until
1906, when he came permanently to reside at Duluth, which had been
his home on occasion before that time. In 1899 the Swan River Road
was sold to James J. Hill, Mr. Killorin continuing under the new owner-
ship until his final removal to Duluth. In the meantime he had acquired
interests in timbering with the same connection that originally had brought
him to Minnesota, and this interest he has maintained to the present.
He is identified with banking and mining, with the Kelley-How-Thomson
Company, wholesale hardware dealers, and other important matters.
Mr. Killorin has been one of the live men in the development of the
institutions and interests of St. Louis County. He is a member of the
Kitchi Gammi Club, Country Club, Curling Club and Commercial Club.
In religious faith he is a Roman Catholic. His political belief is that of
the Republican party, but his business interests have prevented him from
1026 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
entering actively into public life. He has been a supporter of all worthy
movements, educational, religious, charitable and civic.
In 1880 Mr. Killorin married Miss Carrie Wright, who died in 1894.
In 1898 he married Miss Mary McHugh, and they have three children:
John F., Bernard and Elizabeth. Mr. Killorin has always taken a deep
interest in boating, Messrs. Killorin and Smith winning the champion-
ship of the world in the paired oared contest that took place during the
Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. They also took first
prize in Saratoga that same year and in 1877 defeated all comers in
Detroit. Mr. Killorin takes great pride in his various tokens of victory,
his prizes being very beautiful and worthy of the great victories won.
Lewis Hoff Minor when a young man overcame some unusual diffi-
culties in getting the education he desired and in preparing himself
for a career of usefulness, but since then has achieved a well deserved
success, is a self-made man, and one of the well known business men
of the Iron Range district, being manager of the Dower Lumber Com-
pany at Chisholm.
His grandfather was a Union soldier during the Civil war, and after
serving faithfully during most of the struggle died of disease before
the close of hostilities. Lewis Hoff Minor was born on his father's
rented farm near South English, Iowa, September 12, 1873, son of
Jehial and Julia Minor. His early environment was a farm and as
soon as he was old enough his time and services were required in assist-
ing his father. He obtained a country school education and later was
able to pay his way during two years of attendance as a student at
Valparaiso University in Indiana.
Following his college education he worked in a saw mill at Rock Island,
Illinois, for one year, then returned to his home near Tipton, Iowa, and
worked on the railroad as a section hand and one year on the farm, and
through the influence of his employer was enticed to go to Wadena, Min-
nesota. This same employer secured for him 120 acres of land, and
having no money this employer secured the entire amount, which was
to be paid on the annual payment plan. Mr. Minor left Tipton, Iowa,
in August, 1898, with fifteen dollars in money and rode to Wadena,
Minnesota, on a bicycle, covering the six hundred miles in seven days.
Not being financially able to return to Tipton in the fall, he entered
the woods for the winter as a lumber jack, with no experience whatever,
and gained knowledge that has been of inestimable value to him during
his many years in the lumber business. He came out of the woods the
following April to help erect some buildings on other lands purchased
by his employer, and two months later entered the employ of the Dower
Lumber Company at Verndale, Minnesota, a small village near Wadena,
as yard man, and served in this capacity for two years.
Sixteen months after his first experience as a land owner Mr. Minor
sold the farm for one thousand dollars cash, more than the original pur-
chase price., That transaction stimulated and encouraged him to
handle real estate on the side, and since then he has made many success-
ful real estate turnovers.
After two years as a yard man for the Dower Lumber Company at
Verndale he was then promoted to the position of yard manager and
transferred to New York Mills, Minnesota, where he remained for eight
years. At this place he was obliged to learn the Finnish language, as
the settlers were practically all Finnish speaking people, and this knowl-
edge has been a very valuable asset in business since that time.
On September 5, 1908, a great forest fire swept northern Minnesota,
and Chisholm was one of the northern towns that was entirely wiped
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1027
out by this fire. On October 1st, following, Mr. Minor was transferred
to Chisholm, where a new lumber yard was opened by the Dower Lumber
Company, and he assisted in rebuilding the village of ten thousand
inhabitants.
Mr. Minor has been with this one company for twenty-one years.
In appreciation of his faithful and able services the company at the
end of his twentieth year presented him with a thousand dollar stock
certificate and a life insurance policy for a thousand dollars for as
long as he is with them.
A short time after he entered the service of the Dower Lumber
Company Mr. Minor married, on April 4, 1900, Miss Alberta Towne,
of Verndale, Minnesota. Their only child is Harold Douglas, born in
1909. While he was living at New York Mills Mr. Minor served as
village trustee. He has always been keenly interested in politics, and
as a boy made choice of his allegiance with the Republican party, though
his father was a Democrat. Before he was old enough to vote he took
an active part in the Harrison-Cleveland campaign, so much so that his
father was accured by his friends of being disloyal to the Democrats.
Mr. Minor served one year as a member of the Chisholm Board of
Health, and was the first secretary of Hematite Lodge No. 274, Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons, and is a member of Lematite Lodge No. 9
in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Albert St. Vincent. In the mining activities that comprise such
a large and important chapter in the industrial history of St. Louis
County members of the St. Vincent family have performed a useful and
frequently conspicuous part for many years. Albert St. Vincent of this
family is a prominent mining engineer, and as one of the operating
officials of the Oliver Iron Mining Company is the present assistant
superintendent of the Hull-Rust, Kerr, Sweeney and Carson Lake
Mines.
Mr. St. Vincent was born at Quinnesec, Michigan, December 30,
1881. His father, Frank St. Vincent, was of French ancestry and was
born in Montreal, Canada, but came to Michigan at the age of six
years. In March, 1884, he went on the Vermillion Range of northern
Minnesota as foreman of the blacksmith shop at Tower. Later he
located at Soudan in St. Louis County and in that locality has maintained
his home for over thirty years and is still active in service as a black-
smith foreman. He married Obeline Vandal, of French parentage.
Albert St. Vincent is the oldest of eight children. He was three
years old when he and his mother and a brother six months old followed
his father to Soudan in September, 1884, and in that mining village he
grew up and acquired his early grade school education. He also attended
a business college two years, and at the age of seventeen became a helper
in the mine blacksmith shop under his father. Subsequently for a few
months he worked in the supply department, was then transferred to
Section Thirty Mine at Ely for the Minnesota Iron Company, next
became timekeeper at Soudan, where he remained four years, and in the
spring of 1903 came to the Mesaba Range as mine clerk for the LaBelle
Mining Company at McKinley. That mine closed down the same sum-
mer, and he found a variety of experience at Cripple Creek, Colorado,
where he was employed as hoisting engineer and in other capacities by
the Golden Cycle Mining Company for four months. His next work
was in Sunrise, Wyoming, where he was a warehouseman for the Colo-
rado Fuel & Iron Company and the Colorado & Wyoming Railroad
Company, remaining in that service two years.
Vol. Ill— 7
1028 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Returning to Minnesota in 1905, Mr. St. Vincent located at Ely and
was timekeeper at the Pioneer and Chandler Mines for the Oliver Iron
Mining Company. In January, 1906, he went to Ironwood, Michigan,
as assistant mining engineer for the Newport Mining Company. In
order to increase his proficiency as a mining man by technical instruc-
tion he entered the Michigan School of Mines at Houghton in Septem-
ber, 1906, and remained with that great institution for one year.
Then in 1907 Mr. St. Vincent came to Hibbing and resumed service
with the Oliver Iron Mining Company as mining engineer. He per-
formed duties in that capacity at all the mines operated by the com-
pany in the Hibbing district. In 1916 be was made assistant chief engi-
neer for the Hibbing district for the Oliver Company, and in April, 1918,
became assistant superintendent, the office he now holds. While assist-
ant chief engineer he performed the original cross section work before
stripping started on the Rust part of the Hull-Rust Mine. He also did
the original cross section and topographical work on the North Uno,
South Uno and Dale Mines up to January 1, 1915. These are Great
Northern iron ore properties, but until the date mentioned were operated
by the Oliver Company, when they were returned to the Great Northern.
Mr. St. Vincent while engineer at these mines had a share in that inter-
esting engineering task involved in the opening of the Carson Lake
Mine. Carson Lake was at that time a real lake, constituting a body
of about eighty acres of water, or approximately three hundred million
gallons. This water was pumped away by two centrifugal pumps in
two months, and as the lake was emptied the material from the strip-
ping operations which were begun on the Kerr Mine some two and a
half miles north was brought down and dumped into the north and west
sides of the lake bottom. This fill involved the transfer of approximately
a million five hundred thousand cubic yards of material. When forty
acres of Carson Lake had been covered with this stripping the Carson
Lake shaft was started and sunk a hundred eighty-seven feet to taconite
and then drifts were started towards the main ore body, and thus mining
operations undertaken in earnest.
Mr. St. Vincent is one of the well known mining officials of northern
Minnesota and for a number of years has had his home at Hibbing.
On December 24, 1907, he married Miss Nelle McClure, of Lansing,
Michigan. Her father, Daniel McClure, was long prominent in Michigan
educational affairs and politics, serving as county superintendent of
schools and as assistant state superintendent of schools. Mr. and Mrs.
St. Vincent have three sons, Burt McClure, Frank Daniel and William.
Charles Peterson has been one of the busy men in the Range
country of northern Minnesota for about thirty years. He has been
a practical miner, a worker in various capacities with iron mining com-
panies, has been an engineer, a hotel man, and for a number of years
past has been in the hardware business at Chisholm.
Mr. Peterson was born in Sweden January 28, 1871. His father,
Peter Magnus Peterson, was born about 1817 and spent an active life
as a farmer until his death at the age of fifty-five. Of the large family
of twelve children Charles was next to the youngest. Five of them are
still living, three brothers and two sisters, and all are now in America.
Charles Peterson grew up on a farm, lived there to the age of seven-
teen, and after acquiring a common school education put in his time
as a farm worker and also had some experience as a railroad brakeman.
It was in 1888 that he came across the ocean, landing in New York,
and during the first 3 years worked in a saw-milling plant in Penn-
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1029
sylvania. His first work was "jacking logs" and after that "riding car-
riage." After this saw milling experience Mr. Peterson came to Ely,
Minnesota, and worked as a miner in the Chandler Mine for six years.
For another six years he was employed in the Pioneer Mine. From
that he entered the service of the Oliver Iron Mining Company, at first
on a diamond drill and later was engaged for exploration work over
the various properties, spending altogether about four years in this way.
Then followed a service as electrical engineer for the city of Ely in
1907, and about that time he first came to Chisholm, where for six
months he was an electrical driller at one of the mines. Going back
to Ely, he bought the Vermilion Hotel, and was proprietor of that pop-
ular hostelry for seven years.
Mr. Peterson came to Chisholm in 1915 and with his brother Gust
bought out the Johnson Brothers hardware and furnace store and for
the past five years has done a profitable business under the firm name
of Peterson Brothers. Mr. Peterson had not been long in this country
before he applied for his citizenship papers and completed his natural-
ization July 12, 1898. He is independent in politics. He is a Lutheran,
a past grand of Lematite Lodge No. 9 of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie No. 462, is
affiliated with Lodge No. 226 of the Loyal Order of Moose, and is a
member of the Kiwanis Club. October 1, 1902, in Pennsylvania,
Mr. Peterson married Miss Nancy Freberg, who came from Smoland,
Sweden. They have two children, Jennie Irene, born in 1903, and
Carl Elmer, born in 1907.
Peter McHardy. While the first exploration and testing that
marked the first chapter in the history of Hibbing began in 1892, it
was very early in the following year, February 17, 1893, to be exact,
that Peter McHardy identified himself with the locality. One of the
oldest residents, he has made his enterprise a factor in the development
of the community and is proud of its prosperity and in every way pos-
sible has exerted himself for the benefit of his home city.
Mr. McHardy was born in western Ontario May 4, 1868, son of
William and Margaret (Thorn) McHardy. His parents came to Can-
ada from the vicinity of Aberdeen, Scotland, and were Canadian farm-
ers. Peter McHardy grew up on the home farm and was educated in the
public schools. In the fall of 1889 he came to northern Michigan, and
for about two years was employed as an ordinary laborer.
Then he came into the Range country of northern Minnesota and
first found employment with the Lake Superior Iron Mines, principally
as a tester. In December, 1893, he helped clear the streets of the pres-
ent village of Hibbing, and later worked as a carpenter on some of the
early buildings in the town. In 1895, more than a quarter of a cen-
tury ago, Mr. McHardy entered the retail lumber, fuel, flour and feed
business, to which he devoted his best energies until October 1, 1910,
when he sold out, and since then has given his attention to real estate
and more particularly of late to practical farming, since in St. Louis
County he owns about eighteen hundred acres, a portion of which is
cleared and under crops.
Mr. McHardy has never been a politician, though he has maintained
a keen interest in the growth, development and material welfare of Hib-
bing. He served one term as township treasurer, several terms as vil-
lage councilman, and in 1906 was elected president of Hibbing, being
one of the first to hold that office. He was reared a Presbyterian and
is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
1030 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
On September 1. 1898, Mr. McHardy married Miss Delia Slattery,
of Hibbing. The nine children born to their marriage are Margaret
Ann, George Alexander, Effdor, Delia, James, Chloris, Jean Marie,
Marian and Frances. During the World war Mr. McHardy was a
member of the Stuntz Township War Fund Board. He has had much
to overcome in his efforts to make life a success, being hampered by a
lack of education, and has depended upon hard work at all times as the
sure and direct means to achievement. He has gained an honored name
and has the confidence and esteem of his fellow men and has reason to
be proud of his individual participation in the historic destiny of the
Range district of Minnesota.
Edward H. Nelson, M. D. For the past seventeen years Dr. Edward
H. Nelson of Chisholm has been identified with public affairs of the
Mesaba Range country of northern Minnesota, and especially those con-
nected with Chisholm. He is a man of exceptional capabilities in his
profession, is particularly efficient as a public official, and measures up
to the highest standards of citizenship. During the great war he offered
his services to his country, but the authorities decided that owing to
his age he could be more useful if he remained at home and exerted him-
self in behalf of local war work, which he did like the loyal citizen
he is. Genial and capable, a gentleman of the finest type, Doctor Nelson
commands respect and confidence wherever known.
He was born at Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 30, 1875, a son of
Ellef and Ingeberg (Anderson) Nelson, who were natives of Norway
and Denmark, respectively. The father came to the United States in
1866 and the mother in 1871, and they were married at Faribault, Min-
nesota. He has devoted his life to railroad work, and now, at the age
of seventy-four years, is conductor on the Chicago, Milwaukee and
St. Paul Railroad, and for fifty-four years has been in the service of
this road.
Growing up at Minneapolis, Doctor Nelson was given the advantages
offered by its excellent public schools, where he formed the determination
to study for the medical profession, and with this end in view matric-
ulated in the medical department of the Minnesota State University,
from which he was graduated in 1903, with the degree of Doctor of
Medicine, and then for the subsequent eighteen months served as an
interne at Saint Barnabas Hospital.
In 1904 Doctor Nelson came to Chisholm to enter the service of
the Rood Hospital, and is still connected with it and is also carrying
on a general practice. He belongs to the American Medical Association,
the American Fellowship, an auxiliary of the former, the Minnesota
State and St. Louis County Medical Societies, and the Range Medical
Association. Earlier in his career he made a special study of anesthe-
sia, and while vet an interne an article of his entitled "The Art of
Giving General Anesthesia" appeared in the medical press and attracted
widespread attention and received the approval of the profession. Doctor
Nelson was elected in 1908 a trustee of Chisholm, and was in office
during the period of the great fire, and for twelve years has been a
member of the School Board, of which he is now president. He is a
Republican in politics. In 1910 he was elected president of the village
of Chisholm and re-elected in 1911 and also re-elected in 1918. The
Chisholm Commercial and Kiwanis Clubs hold his membership and bene-
fit by his intelligent stand on public questions and his active interest in
civic affairs. Fraternally he belongs to the Elks, Knights of Pythias
and Masonic Orders.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1031
On July 26, 1905, Doctor Nelson was married to Miss Marie Saucier,
of Osseo, Minnesota, and they have two daughters : Lucille L. and
Marjorie M. Doctor Nelson is a Lutheran and his wife is Roman Cath-
olic. Both as a physician and citizen Doctor Nelson has attained to
the full measure of popular esteem and confidence, and reaches the under-
standing of his fellow citizens directly and surely. He is looked up to
and his advise is sought and followed, and his arguments in behalf of
any movement are convincing in their simplicity and sincerity. He is
a man of high ideals, keen life interests and sound judgment, and has
handled with tact and success a number of difficult problems, while
personally he possesses a charm of manner, culture and a wide range
of intellectual connections.
Arthur O. Wilson. In a career of some twenty years, during
which he has risen from a common laborer to general superintendent of
the Susquehanna Mine of the Rogers-Brown Iron Company, Arthur O.
Wilson has exhibited the earnestness, industry and sound ability that
justify his prominence in mining circles though personally he is very
quiet and unassuming and only his efficiency in his position and the
respect accorded him by his friends and associates betray how thoroughly
he knows his business.
Mr. Wilson was born at Wichita, Kansas, December 1, 1879, son
of George and Anna (Olmstead) Wilson. His parents, now deceased,
were Ohio farmers, and Arthur was one of four children. He grew up
in eastern Ohio, acquired a public school education, and since the age
of twenty has been doing for himself. He came to Hibbing in 1900
and for a time worked as a common laborer in the Mahoning Mine. His
next work was as shipping clerk with the Mahoning Ore & Steel Com-
pany, following which he became transit man, and by close study and
observation perfected himself in all branches of practical mining engi-
neering. In 1911 he was placed as engineer in charge of the Susquehanna
Mine, in 1916 was made superintendent, and since January 1, 1919,
has been general superintendent of this large and important property
in the Hibbing district.
Mr. Wilson married Miss Gladys Shaw, of Duluth, in 1918. They
have one daughter, Margaret Ann.
George K. Trask has been a resident of Chisholm since 1908, and
after coming to the village took up and diligently pursued the study of
law, and for the past six years has been earning a fine reputation and
performing some splendid service as a lawyer.
He was born August 11, 1876, at Mountsberg, County Wentworth,
Ontario, son of George and Emily (Mount) Trask. His maternal
grandfather, John Mount, was a pioneer of Ontario and the town of
Mountsberg was named in his honor. George Trask was a lumberman,
and was engaged in the saw mill business until 1895. He and his wife
are still living at Orillia, Canada.
Reared in Canada, George K. Trask attended the grammar and
high schools of his native county, graduating from the Orillia High
School in 1895, and then for ten and a half years his time and ener-
gies were devoted to the profession of teaching. Four and a half years
of that time he was identified with the schools of his native province,
and afterward was a teacher in Minnesota. He came to this state in
1900 and has been continuously a resident of Minnesota except for two
years at Winnipeg, Manitoba. Soon after coming to Chisholm in 1908
1032 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Trask was made clerk of the Municipal Court, and performed the
duties of that office until 1913.
In 1909 he took up the study of law and pursued the study with
an unremitting diligence in connection with other duties until he was
qualified for the bar. In 1913 he entered the law office of Edward
Freeman of Chisholm, now district judge, and was a student and
assistant in the office of Judge Freeman until admitted to the bar in
1914. and continued with Judge Freeman until 1915. For the past five
years he has practiced alone, and has had a busy career in the law and
in local affairs.
Mr. Trask served as village attorney from March, 1916, to March,
1919. and from August, 1917, until August, 1920, was a member of
the Chisholm School Board. During the World war he was a member
of the Local Advisory Board and one of the Four-minute Speakers.
He is an independent Republican, served as worshipful master in 1917
of Hematite Lodge No. 274, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, is
a member of the Lodge of Perfection of the Scottish Rite at Hibbing,
was noble grand in 1910 of Lematite Lodge No. 9, Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, and also belongs to the Order of Elks and the Kiwanis
Club. July 17, 1913, Mr. Trask married Elizabeth Tolle, a native of
Minnesota. They have one daughter, Flora Hermine.
John A. Redfern. For more than a quarter of a century a resi-
dent of Hibbing. John A. Redfern is conceded to be one of the best
posted men on iron ore on the Mesaba Range. A practical mining
expert, he has other interests, and was a leader in patriotic measures
at Hibbing during the World war and at all times and under all cir-
cumstances has measured up to the highest standards of good citizen-
ship.
Mr. Redfern was born in Derbyshire, England, October 10, 1867,
and four years later, in 1871, came with his parents, Herbert and
Mary Ann (Wooley) Redfern, to Canada. For ten years the family
home was at Owen Sound in Ontario, where the mother died. Her-
bert Redfern then removed to Negaunee, Michigan, where he was iden-
tified with the mining operations of that section, but for a number
of years past has made his home in British Columbia.
John A. Redfern began life with only a common school education,
and since the age of eighteen his experiences have all been centered
around the mining industry. His first regular duties performed in the
mines were as a "scrammer." Since then he has filled practically every
position in the business save that pertaining to the chemical depart-
ment. He worked as a blacksmith's helper, fired a boiler, ran an
engine, and served as a powder monkey, and in 1886 went to the Goge-
bic Range as timekeeper and shipping clerk at the Aurora Mine, and
later as assistant mining engineer. Returning to Negaunee in 1890,
he was assistant to the superintendent of lands for the Cleveland-
Cliffs Iron Company. In 1892 he became superintendent of the Piatt
Mining and Manufacturing Company, and when in 1895 the Penobscot
Mining Company began its explorations on the Mesaba Range Mr. Red-
fern was selected to come to Hibbing as superintendent of explorations
and as such opened the old Penobscot Mine, which was developed under
his direction and eventually sold to the Donora Mining Company.
About the time the Penobscot Mine was transferred Mr. Redfern
became inspector of fees for the Mississippi Land Company, and that
has been the official nature of his duties ever since. For many years
he has been a resident of Hibbing, and is a director of the First National
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1033
Bank of the city. He is financially interested in townsite properties.
During the World war he was chairman of the various Liberty Loan
committees that in every instance succeeded in raising more funds than
the allotment specified. He was also local secretary of the War Activ-
ities Fund, an organization that created a fund of $134,380.60. Mr. Red-
fern is a charter member and a past worshipful master of Mesaba Lodge
No. 255, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, has attained the thirty-
second degree of Scottish Rite Masonry, is a member of the Mystic
Shrine, and belongs to the Algonquin and Kiwanis Clubs. In 1894 he
married Miss Lillian J. Seass, of Negaunee, Michigan. Mrs. Redfern
is a member of the Episcopal Church.
Manne Hedin. While he had a business experience in several dif-
ferent lines in his native country of Sweden and also after coming to
America, Manne Hedin has been chiefly interested as a painting and
decorating contractor and has probably the largest business of its kind
at Chisholm and one of the most extensive on the Iron Range.
Mr. Hedin was born at Soderala, Sweden, February 20, 1879. His
father was born in 1836 and lived to the age of sixty-six. The mother's
maiden name was Maria Katarina Spoere, and she was born in Smo-
land, Sweden, in 1836. Of their large family of twelve children Manne
is the youngest and six are still living.
Manne Hedin was three years of age when his parents moved to
Ostersund, and there he grew to years of maturity. He had a com-
mon school education, spent four years in high school and also served
a complete apprenticeship with his father, who was a painting con-
tractor for the railroad. On leaving home Manne Hedin removed to
Gothenburg and was employed in the office and to some extent as a
traveling representative for a wholesale paper house. That was his
occupation for about six years, and he then continued in the same busi-
ness but with another firm at Malmo, Sweden, for about one year.
When Mr. Hedin came to the United States in 1906 his first service
was with the Everett Piano Company of Boston. He was one of the
experts in the painting and finishing department for the company, and
was a workman in their shops for a year and a half. On leaving Bos-
ton he came to Duluth and entered the service of his brother, T. H. Hedin,
a painting contractor. After four years he left his brother's employ and
for the next two years was a hardwood finisher with the firm of Scott &
Graff Company.
It was in 1913 that Mr, Heden came to Chisholm, and during the
first year was employed with Gust Anderson, a building contractor.
He and Karl G. Lambert formed a partnership in general painting and
the retail paint business at Second avenue, South. The partnership was
dissolved after a year and since then Mr. Hedin has been in business
for himself and continued at the location on Second avenue. South,
until he moved into his new store on Lake street early in 1920. He
has a well equipped store, carrying all the standard wares and goods
and maintains an excellent organization for painting and decorating.
Mr. Hedin received his second papers as an American citizen Janu-
ary 8, 1915. He is affiliated with Hematite Lodge No. 274, Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons, Lematite Lodge No. 9 of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of Chisholm Lodge of the
Order of Vasa, the Kiwanis Club, and in religion is a Lutheran. In
North Dakota November 25, 1908, he married Maria Desidefia Lund-
guist, of Loberod, Sweden, where she was born May 23, 1881. They
have one daughter, Dagmar Maria, born February 5, 1910.
1034 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
William P. Mars by virtue of thirty years residence is one of
the older citizens of Duluth. This period has been one of growing
business responsibility and with accumulating interests that make him
one of the foremost men of affairs in the northern part of the state.
As an individual he has worked with organizations and contributed
effectively to the splendid position maintained by Duluth as one of the
great commercial centers of the north.
Mr! Mars was born in Chicago, Illinois, December 17, 1866, a son
of R. W. and Fanny J. (Blenkensop) Mars. His father also became
prominently known in Duluth, where he located in 1890. He was a
mechanical engineer by profession, also superintendent of the Mari-
nette Iron Works at West Duluth, and was later connected with the
Marshall Mills Company as a salesman until his death in 1910.
William P. Mars grew up in Chicago, acquired his education in the
public schools there, and came to Duluth in 1890. For three years
he was cashier for the Marinette Iron Works at West Duluth and then
went north on the Range to Virginia City and established the pioneer
mining supply and hardware store. He was the prtive head of this
business for five years.
In January, 1898, Mr. Mars became associated with the Marshall
Wells Company as department manager of its railroad and mining
machinery department. He soon acquired a financial interest in the
business and was elected one of the vice presidents and was identified
with that great wholesale hardware concern for twenty-three years.
In 1921 Mr. Mars severed his connection with the Marshall Wells Com-
pany and became one of the organizers of the Meagher-Mars Company
of Duluth. This is an organization making a specialty of the lines
with which Mr. Mars had gained such long familiarity during his con-
nection with the Marshall Wells Company. They are wholesale dealers
in railroad, mining and industrial machinery, and almost from the start
have enjoyed exceptional connections with the trade of the great mining
districts of the north. Mr. Mars is one of the principal stockholders
and is vice president and treasurer of the company.
In April, 1889, he married Miss Leonora J. Prescott, of Marinette,
Wisconsin, daughter of Sumner J. and Florence (Bullock) Prescott.
Mr. and Mrs. Mars have four children: Robert Sumner: Florence, wife
of Allison Walker ; William Phillip and Richard Prescott. Mr. Mars
is popular in social affairs at Duluth, is affiliated with all the local
branches of Masonry, and is a member of the Northland Country Club,
the Commercial Club and the Kitchi Gammi Club.
Mike Salminen. A Hibbing business man who began his career
in comparative obscurity and has achieved for himself a dignified suc-
cess and a position of high regard in his community, Mike Salminen
is owner of the Merchants Warehouse Company of Hibbing, and has
been a resident of that village for over twenty years.
He was born in Finland November 26, 1870. He grew up and
acquired a common school education in his native country. In 1887,
when he was seventeen years of age, he came with his parents, Thomas
and Serafina (Holt) Salminen, to the United States. The family located
at New York Mills, Minnesota, where Thomas Salminen took out natu-
ralization papers and began his career on a homestead. In recent years
Thomas Salminen and wife left the old Minnesota farm and removed
to Ashburn, Massachusetts, where he died in 1920 and where his widow
is still living.
t^6t#^ct C* 7r/ ' svts^
7
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1035
All of their seven children are living today. Mike Salminen came to
manhood at New York Mills, had his early business training there, and
in 1899 came to Hibbing, when the town was new, and opened a gro-
cery and meat market on Pine street. From the beginning he prospered
as the result of hard work, honesty and close application. In this busi-
ness he was associated with John K. Maki, who has been connected
with him for the most part ever since. Under the firm name of Sal-
minen & Maki they operated their original establishment on Pine street
and later established a branch house known as the Cash Market Com-
pany at 709-11 Third avenue. The Pine street store was abandoned
and the partners gave their entire attention to the Cash Market Com-
pany. In 1915 they retired from the general grocery and meat business.
They had in the meantime acquired an interest in the Merchants Ware-
house Company, and then bought the interests of the remaining stock-
holders and continued this business together until 1920, when Mr. Sal-
minen bought out Mr. Maki's interest and is now sole proprietor.
He has other important business connections with Hibbing, being a
director of the Security State Bank and a director of the Hibbing State
Bank at South Hibbing. Mr. Salminen is an active member and treas-
urer of the Finnish Lutheran Church of Hibbing and is a Republican
in politics.
In July, 1894, he married Sanni Maki, sister of his former business
partner. They have four children, Elma E., Werner L., Eino Rudolf
and Irma Lucile. Elma was a teacher in the Hibbing schools for four
years and is now the wife of Dr. George Jarvinen. Werner volunteered
for service in the World war, joining the fighting forces as a private,
but on account of his efficiency in office detail work was transferred
and for over a year was employed in one of the big transfer offices in
France as bookkeeper and stenographer.
William E. Bates, chief engineer of the Chisholm District for the
Oliver Iron Mining Company, is a typical representative of the kind
of man the big Range corporations demand for their high official posi-
tions, and in his work is setting a pace and raising a standard hard to
equal and impossible to excel. He was born in Boone County, Illinois,
December 10, 1879, and when he was two years old his parents, Ben-
jamin A. and Esther (Norris) Bates, moved to Butler County, Iowa,
where they lived on a farm until 1896. In that year removal was made
to Mason City, Iowa, and there he had better educational opportunities,
of which he took advantage and was graduated from the high school
course in 1898.
For four years succeeding his graduation Mr. Bates worked as a
clerk and stenographer, a portion of that time being with the Chicago
& Northwestern Railroad, and the remaining period was with a law
firm. He then entered the civil engineering department of the State
University of Wisconsin at Madison, and was graduated therefrom in
1906, and immediately thereafter came to the Mesaba Range in north-
ern Minnesota and became an engineer at the Clark Mine for the Oliver
Iron Mining Company. Subsequently he filled different positions, work-
ing as engineer at the Hull-Rust Mine, assistant to the chief engineer
of the Chisholm District, following which he was for a short time
engaged in doing topographical work. Entering the offices of the Oliver
Iron Mining Company at Hibbing, he remained there until February,
1909, when he was sent to Mount Iron as assistant to the chief engi-
neer, and he was also at Virginia, Minnesota. During all of this period
Mr. Bates was acquiring that practical experience through actual oper-
1036 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
ation which is so necessary in his profession, and in 1910 his superiors
were so convinced of his fitness for this class of work that they made
him chief engineer of the Chisholm District, a rather remarkable pro-
motion for a young man, but subsequent events proved the wisdom of
the selection.
On July 31, 1916, Mr. Bates was united in marriage with Agnes
Ruehle, of Stillwater, Minnesota. Mrs. Bates is a member of the Epis-
copal Church. Mr. Bates is not only prominent in professional circles,
but has attained to distinction along other lines. A stalwart Repub-
lican, he was elected on his party ticket in 1914 as a member of the
board of Balkan township, and still holds the office, and during all of
his membership has served the board as chairman. For the past couple
of years he has been president of the Chisholm Chamber of Commerce
and has taken an active part in promoting the civic welfare of his com-
munity. Well known in Masonry, Mr. Bates was worshipful master
of Hematite Lodge No. 274, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and
he is a thirty-second degree Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Mason and
a member of the Mystic Shrine. The Kiwanis Club has in him one of
its most influential and forceful members and in it as in all of the
other organizations with which he is connected he takes a constructive
part.
William John Ryder. One of Hibbing's oldest merchants and
business men, William John Ryder is also probably the oldest native son
of Minnesota found in that community.
He was born at Pine City, Minnesota, December 26, 1867, son of
John and Sophia (Schweitzer) Ryder. His mother was a native of
Saxony, Germany. John Ryder was a pioneer of Pine City, Minnesota.
One of a family of nine children, William John Ryder had to con-
tent himself with limited advantages during his youth. He attended
school until he was about twelve or thirteen years of age, his instruction
being chiefly confined to the three R's. He learned cabinet making
and wood carving at St. Paul, and was employed in that line of business
by the Palace Furniture Company in St. Paul from 1886 to 1894. From
1894 to 1900 he was in the furniture business on his own account at
St. Paul, and in May of the latter year came to the village of Hibbing,
only about seven years after the original townsite had been laid out.
Except for a tailoring establishment he opened the first retail store on
Third avenue, at the southeast corner of Third and Center streets.
In October, 1909, the year of the Chisholm fire, Mr. Ryder moved to
his present location, and has continued in business there over ten years.
While never an office seeker, he has accepted a full share of those
responsibilities that are a part of good American citizenship. For the
past three years he has been a member of the Park Commission and is
now chairman of that commission. He was elected president of the
Commercial Club in 1917, and has been at the head of this live organiza-
tion of local citizens for two years. For three years he was also a
member of the Water and Light Commission, retiring as chairman in
1917. Mr. Ryder is a director of the Security State Bank and of the
Hibbing State Bank.
On December 26, 1892, he married Miss Josephine Achenbach, of
Alma, Wisconsin. They are the parents of four children : Ada, wife
of J. E. Capra ; Eleanor, Mrs. Valentine Kuechmeister ; William
John, Jr. ; and Mae.
^£^*4^^
cX
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1037
James Francis Dacey was a power in Duluth manufacturing circles
for over a quarter of a century. He was founder of one of the city's
most considerable industries, the Gogebic Steam Boiler Works. He
began to learn the boiler maker's trade just fifty years before his death,
and with the skill acquired through a long journeyman's experience he
united the executive force that proved him one of the masterful business
men of his generation.
He was born at Canandaigua, New York, September 3, 1853, son
of Bartholomew and Mary Ann Dacey. Both are now deceased, the
mother having survived the father several years. Bartholomew Dacey,
who died in 1855, was a contractor and for a number of years was
employed in construction work on the Erie Railroad.
James F. Dacey acquired a common school education, never getting
beyond the eighth grade. He first started to learn the printer's trade,
but finding this uncongenial in 1866, when thirteen years of age, he
entered the Brooks Locomotive Works plant at Dunkirk, New York. He
worked on the first locomotive built by that giant concern, and thor-
oughly learned the boiler maker's trade in that plant. Leaving it in
1872, he went out to Elkhart, Indiana, and for four years was in the
shops of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Company. From 1876
to 1888 Mr. Dacey was employed as foreman boiler maker by the
Union Pacific Railway Company between Omaha and other western
cities on the route. During the twenty years of his employment he had
thriftily conserved his means, and in November, 1889, brought his
capital to Duluth, then a city of about thirty thousand inhabitants.
Here he established the Gogebic Steam Boiler Works, the original plant
being 60 by 100 feet. From the first he was insistent upon the quality
and thoroughness of all the work produced by this plant. That reputa-
tion has consistently adhered to the Gogebic output, and the industry
has survived every period of depression in the northwest. The original
capacity having been outgrown in 1907, the plant was greatly enlarged
and thoroughly equipped with the most up-to-date machinery and every
facility called for in a modern manufacturing establishment. It is
operated with power generated by the Great Northern Power Company
system at St. Louis Falls. It was the first plant in Duluth to obtain
current from this public utility.
The Gogebic Steam Boiler Works manufacture boilers for steam
heating and hot water, for manufacturing and mining purposes, tanks,
smokestacks, sheet iron work and plate work of every description. This
product is shipped throughout the northwest, and during the last several
years has gone also to eastern and western territory.
The late Mr. Dacey was a pioneer on the Vermilion and Mesaba
Iron ranges. He built and placed the first boilers going into service
to develop the iron industry. That was long before the advent of rail-
ways, and the boilers had to be hauled in sections and set up in the
field. Mr. Dacey in 1911 also became interested in and took over the
plant formerly known as the Northwestern Steam Boiler and Manu-
facturing Company. With that property he organized a new company
known as the Duluth Boiler Works. It has enjoyed a steady growth
and prosperity, and its products are known from coast to coast. In
the midst of the success and responsibilities connected with these two
industries Mr. Dacey was called by death March 17, 1916. His life
was an inspiring example of complete devotion to business and home
interests. He was never in politics as a candidate, though he worked
for the success of friends and of the Republican party. His chief
diversion was baseball, and he played that game as a youth and to the
1038 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
end of his life was regarded as the most ardent fan in Duluth. He was
a member of the Sacred Heart Cathedral of the Catholic Church at
Duluth.
August 16, 1875, at Elkhart, Indiana, he married Mary Ann Nolan,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Nolan. The only surviving child of
Mr. and Mrs. Dacey is Francis J. Dacey, who married Mary Gowan.
Francis James Dacey. For a quarter of a century, beginning when
he was a youth, Francis James Dacey has recognized one dominant
business interest at Duluth, the Gogebic Steam Boiler Works, orig-
inally a product of his father's industrial genius, but the modern
extension of which, keeping pace with the wonderful growth and
development of Duluth, has been largely achieved by Francis J.
Dacey.
The latter was born at Laramie City, Wyoming, July 3, 1878, son
of James Francis and Mary Ann (Nolan) Dacey. His father spent
his early years in Canandaigua, New York, and died March 17, 1916.
He was long an honored and influential citizen, business man and
manufacturer of St. Louis county.
Francis J. Dacey, oldest of three children and the only one now-
living, was educated in the parochial and public schools of Duluth
and in 1895, at the age of seventeen, entered his father's business, the
Gogebic Steam Boiler Works at 409-415 Lake Avenue, South. Be-
sides building up this industry he has also been interested in the
Duluth Boiler Works since its reorganization in 1911.
Mr. Dacey has been active in local affairs, serving four years as
a member of the Civil Service Board, is a Republican, a member of
the Commercial Club, Kitchi Gammi Club and Boat Club, and belongs
to Sacred Heart Cathedral. April 6, 1909, he married at Duluth
Mary Gowan. Her father was the late Andrew Gowan. Mr. and
Mrs." Dacey have three children, Mary Elizabeth, Francis Gowan
and Henry Gowan Dacey.
Andrew Gowan. As a pioneer in northern Minnesota, contributing
materially to the growth of several industries, chiefly logging and the
wholesale grocery business, and at the time of his death one of the most
prominent of Duluth's business men, his many friends and old time
business associates will appreciate the appropriateness of a brief record
of the career of the late Andrew Gowan.
He was born in New Brunswick April 15, 1851, son of George and
Mary Gowan. During his early boyhood his parents moved to Min-
nesota and settled in Stillwater. He received a very brief common school
education and while very young began working in the lumber camps.
In this industry he rose from laborer to executive of one of the largest
corporations.
In October, 1878, at Stillwater, Mr. Gowan married Miss Mary
Bergin, daughter of Matthey Bergin. Soon after his marriage he moved
to Cloquet, which was rapidly becoming the center of northern Min-
nesota's logging operations. The C. N. Nelson Lumber Company, later
a part of the Weyerhaeuser interests, maintained headquarters there.
After working in many capacities for the C. N. Nelson Company
Mr. Gowan was made general superintendent of the logging operations
and a member of the company. Severing his connections with Cloquet
interests in 1899 and moving to Duluth, Mr. Gowan started several
logging camps of his own and became a potent factor in logging circles
at the Head of the Lakes. About the same time he organized the Gowan.
Peyton, Tuohy Company, wholesale grocers, later reorganizing it, and
L~
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1039
was instrumental in making this business one of the largest in the north-
west. His death in 1907 closed a long and influential period of years,
in which he was president of the Gowan-Peyton-Congdon Company and
a director of the American Exchange National Bank of Duluth.
At the time of his death he was a member of the various Duluth
clubs, a Knight of Columbus and a Democrat. Early in his career he
served as mayor of Cloquet and later was vitally interested in Duluth
civic and philanthropic organizations.
In 1904 he suffered the loss of his wife. He was survived by Mary
Gowan Dacey, wife of Francis J. Dacey of Duluth ; Lillian, wife of
John Carver Richards, of Virginia; Henry Patrick, who later as an
American soldier was killed in action in France, September 26, 1918;
Claudia, of Virginia ; Andrew Dennis, of Duluth ; and George Joseph,
of Minneapolis.
Andrew J. Sullivan. At the time of his death, which occurred
July 7, 1920, Andrew J. Sullivan had given more than a third of a
century of faithful and competent service to the Oliver Iron Mining
Company. By that corporation he was held in high esteem, measured
in many promotions and in various tokens of appreciation, and he was
one of the best known men in the Iron Ranges of northern Minnesota.
Prior to his death for a number of years he had been general superin-
tendent of the Chisholm District in the Oliver Iron Mining Company.
Mr. Sullivan was born at Eagle Harbor, Michigan, April 4, 1866,
and death came to him when he was just in the prime of his years
and usefulness. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Sullivan, were
both born in Ireland, and of their large family of sixteen children
he was second in age. Three years after his birth his parents moved
to Champion, Michigan, and it was there he acquired his early educa-
tion in the common schools. He was only twelve when he became
chore boy for his neighbors, helping earn his own living. Not long
afterward he was employed at the Champion Mine ''picking over" ore.
The next stage of employment was at the warehouse assisting the clerk,
and still later he was placed in charge of the warehouse. Then followed
promotion to the office, where he remained until the closing down of
the mine.
It was in 1903 that Mr. Sullivan in the course of his duties with
the Oliver Iron Mining Company came to the Mesaba Range as an
accountant for the Auburn Mine at Virginia. Next after that he was
accountant at the Fayal Mine, later clerk at the Genoa Mine, and in
1908 was made superintendent of the Genoa Mine and subsequently
opened the Gilbert Mine, continuing in charge of both properties until
1910. Then followed his appointment and promotion to the post of
general superintendent of all the Oliver Mines in the Chisholm District,
and he discharged those responsibilities during the last ten years of
his life.
August 18, 1897, he married Mary Coyne at Champion. She was
born in Pennsylvania, daughter of Patrick and Mary (Charles worth)
Coyne, her father a native of Ireland and her mother of England.
When she was nine years of age her parents removed to Republic,
Michigan, and later to Champion, in which town she met Mr. Sullivan.
Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan had five children, named Mary Constance, John
Charlesworth, Eugene S., Kathryne E. and Helen Patricia.
The late Mr. Sullivan was characterized by sterling good citizenship
and a usefulness that made him widely known outside his home and
immediate official duty. For two years he served as supervisor of
1040 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mesaba Township. For more than ten years he was a member and
several times director of the School Board of Genoa and McKinley,
Independent District No. 18, served as a member of the Chisholm
Library Board for two years, was a stanch Republican in politics, a
member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church and fraternally was affiliated
with Duluth Lodge of the Knights of Columbus, with the Knights of
the Macabees at Eveleth, with the Elks Lodge at Eveleth, and with the
Ancient Order of Hibernians at Ishpeming.
Anthony Sartori. Commercial intercourse between honorable
tradesmen and other residents of a community very often results in high
mutual appreciation and lasting friendships. This feeling prevails
between the good people of Buhl, Minnesota, and their best patronized
grocer, Anthony Sartori, who has been in active business here for more
than thirteen years.
Anthony Sartori was borti October 18, 1886, in the historic old
city of Venice, Italy. His parents were Peter and Mary (Slaviero)
Sartori, the former of whom was born at Venice in 1848, and the latter
also in Italy, in 1852. They were married in 1873, and of their eight
children Anthony is the fourth in order of birth. He had school advan-
tages in his native city, and as his father was a lumber contractor of some
means, he was able to have one year in college. Despite the many advan-
tages that Venice offers to her people Anthony Sartori early began to
cherish hopes of sometime coming to America, and this quickened his
industry from the time he was doing odd jobs of work as a boy until
later when he learned the shoemaking trade and thus prepared for a
self-supporting life anywhere.
Mr. Sartori was twenty years of age when the opportunity came
for him to leave Italy and sail for the United States. On arriving here
he immediately went to Hibbing, Minnesota, but shortly afterward
accepted work in the Crockstill Mine at Chisholm, where he remained
for ten months, then worked for five months in the Leonard Mine and
later in the Monroe Mine. In 1908 he came to Buhl and on July 5
of that year embarked in a grocery business in partnership with his
brother John and his cousin, Paul Sartori, and the brothers first bought
out the cousin's interest and in 1917 Anthony bought out his brother
John's interest. Mr. Sartori has built up a fine business here, carries
a large stock of standard goods and has the bulk of grocery patronage.
While at Hibbing Mr. Sartori was married on June 15, 1912, to
Nicolina Rosati, who was born in Italy and came to the United States
in 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Sartori have had four children: Mary, who is
seven years old ; Guido, who is six ; Amalia, who died when aged
twenty-seven months ; and Amalia (2) who is aged two months. Mr. Sar-
tori and his family belong to the Roman Catholic Church.
On February 20, 1915. Mr. Sartori was naturalized and is an Ameri-
can citizen. He has intelligently studied political questions and is well
informed concerning the rights, responsibilities and privileges of Amer-
ican citizenship, and has become an active member of the Republican
party. He has taken much interest in the welfare of Buhl and for
three years has served on the Library Board and encourages intellectual
effort, being president of the Dante Alighieri Society. He is secretary
of the Italian Political Club.
John Olson, general mining captain of the Oliver Mines of the
Chisholm District, is one of the practical miners of St. Louis County,
and a man who is held in the highest esteem by all who are associated
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1041
with him. He was born in Wermland, Sweden, January 27, 1869, a
son of Olof and Anna (Olson) Errickson. Olof Errickson was born in
Sweden in 1827, and was a farmer by occupation. His wife was also
born in Sweden, in 1826, and they became the parents of eleven children,
of whom John Olson was the ninth in order of birth.
John Olson acquired in the public schools of his native land a train-
ing about equivalent to that of the graded schools of this country, and
during the summer months he assisted his father on the farm. When
he was fifteen years old he left school and for three years devoted all
of his time to farming. When he was eighteen he went to northern
Sweden to work in the saw-mills, and in 1892 he emigrated to Canada,
where he secured employment on railroad construction and in saw-mills
for three years, and in 1895 came to the United States. He was
naturalized in 1897, and came to the Range. At first he worked in the
Hull Mine at Hibbing, being engaged in sinking the shaft which opened
that mine, and then went to another mine owned by the Oliver Mining
Company. In 1901 he was promoted by this company to be shift boss
at the Rust Mine, and in April of that year was transferred to the
Pillsbury Mine. In 1904 Mr. Olson was made day captain at the Clark
Mine, and in 1909 was promoted to the position he now holds, having
earned it through his dependability and industry.
On May 27, 1897, Mr. Olson was married to Miss Caroline Errick-
son at Hibbing. She was born in Sweden, but came to the United States
when young. Mr. and Mrs. Olson became the parents of the following
children : Elmer J. E., who is attending the University of Minnesota,
taking a course in engineering, and during the war he belonged to the
Students Army Training Corps ; Eveline, who is attending McAllister
College at St. Paul, Minnesota; Everett T., who is attending Chisholm
High School ; and Norma C, who is the youngest.
Mr. Olson belongs to Hematite Lodge No. 274, Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons. He is an Independent Republican in his political
faith. The Methodist Episcopal Church has in him an active member
and generous contributor. During the late war Mr. Olson was a zealous
worker in the sale of Liberty Bonds, and did all in his power to aid
the administration in carrying out its policies. He is a sound, reliable
and hard-working man, who never shirks a responsibility or seeks to
avoid a duty.
John P. Johnson came to Duluth fifty years ago, when only a small
village clustered about "the Head of the Lakes." Subsequent years have
brought him a constantly enlarging scope of service, and that service
has justly gained him the respect and esteem of all classes of citizens
in St. Louis County.
Mr. Johnson was born at Franklin, Connecticut, February 13, 1851.
His Johnson ancestors came from England to America during Colonial
times. His grandfather, Oliver Johnson, was a Connecticut .farmer.
His own parents were Oliver L. and Martha (Mumford) Johnson. His
father was born at Franklin, Connecticut, in 1823, and died in 1874.
He was a prominent railroad man, for many years was purchasing agent
for the New York & New Haven Railroad and a short time before he
was retired was connected with the New Haven & Hartford Railroad.
He was twice married, and was the father of thirteen children, ten of
whom are still living. He was a Republican in politics, one time a
member of the Connecticut Legislature, and a member of the Congre-
gational Church.
John P. Johnson completed the course in an academy of his native
1042 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
town in 1869, and a few months later, in 1870, arrived at Duluth,
destined to be his permanent home and the scene of his mature career.
The first season he was in the employ of the Lake Superior & Missis-
sippi Railroad Company, the first railroad entering Duluth. He then
found employment as bookkeeper with a fellow townsman from Con-
necticut, E. L. Smith, and from 1878 to 1880 succeeded Mr. Smith in
the management of this local meat business. Mr. Johnson first came into
prominence in local affairs when he was elected in 1880 as treasurer
of St. Louis County. He was chosen as a Republican, and kept in office
by repeated elections until 1890. On retiring from office he engaged in
the insurance business and acquired a large following in that line. In
1900 he was elected clerk of the District Court of the Eleventh District,
and is now finishing his twentieth consecutive year in the duties of that
office. At different times he has also served as city alderman, and has
had some business interests aside from those already mentioned.
Mr. Johnson is one of the oldest and most prominent Masons in
Duluth and for twenty-five years has been treasurer of four Masonic
bodies represented in the city. He is affiliated with Palestine Lodge
No. 79, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Keystone Chapter No. 20,
Royal Arch Masons, Duluth Commandery No. 18, Knights Templar,
Duluth Council No. 6, Royal and Select Masons, is a member of the
Scottish Rite bodies and also of the honorary thirty-third degree and the
Temple of the Mystic Shrine and the Eastern Star. He is affiliated
also with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Duluth Commercial
Club, and was a charter member of the first Congregational Church
organized in Duluth, and has been instrumental in promoting the inter-
ests of his church and the building of several houses of worship in
the city.
In 1874 Mr. Johnson married Miss Catherine C. Smith. They have
two children : Earl E. and Robert E.
Fred H. Lounsberry is founder and sole owner of F. H. Louns-
berry & Company, one of the largest printing industries of St. Louis
County. The company has not only a plant with every equipment for
general printing and publishing, but also for other printing processes
and manufacture practically all the type used in the business.
Mr. Lounsberry was born at Minneapolis and is a son of Col. C. A.
Lounsberry, a veteran editor and newspaper man still living, at the age
of seventy-eight. Colonel Lounsberry was founder of the Duluth Daily
News, now merged in the News-Tribune. Fred H. Lounsberry was
fourth in a family of five children. He has lived in Duluth since 1887,
and for a time was employed by his father on the Duluth Journal and
later with the Duluth Herald, being connected with its job printing
department from 1888 to 1892. In 1898 he became one of the founders
of the printing firm of Peachey & Lounsberry, which has since been
succeeded by F. H. Lounsberry & Company, of which he is sole owner.
Mr. Lounsberry is married, and his family consists of his wife and two
daughters. He is a Scottish Rite and Knight Templar Mason and a
member of the First Presbyterian Church at Duluth.
Arthur P. Silliman, who helped survey the original townsite of
Hibbing and has been one of the most generous and public spirited
citizens of that rich and populous community, has to his credit experi-
ences and achievements as a mining engineer and business man that
will for all time link his name closely with the history of the Iron Range
country of the north.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1043
A native of Minnesota, a product of the best universities and a tech-
nical school, Mr. Silliman was well equipped for the arduous responsi-
bilities that awaited him in the development of the Iron Ranges. He
was born at Minneapolis, March 31, 1868. His ancestry was old Con-
necticut Yankee stock. His father, Dwight Silliman, a native of New
York, graduated from the New York College of Physicians and Sur-
geons and the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia, and was
likewise a pioneer of his profession in the northwest. He practiced a
few years at Minneapolis and thereafter for over forty years enjoyed
the honors and responsibilities of a successful physician at Hudson,
Wisconsin. He died in 1919. His wife, Marietta Parks, who died in
1887, was a native of Victor, New York. They are survived by five
children.
Arthur P. Silliman graduated from high school at Hudson, Wiscon-
sin. Following the regular course, the University of Wisconsin gave
him the degree of Bachelor of Letters in 1890, and his technical studies
were pursued in the Michigan School of Mines at Houghton.
Returning to Minnesota, Mr. Silliman made his first visit to what is
now Hibbing in 1893. The townsite had been laid out by Captain
Hibbing the previous year, but the survey was completed by
Mr. Silliman. While Mr. Silliman was working with his instruments the
only building in the vicinity was a log house which was not included
within the lines of the townsite, and he therefore saw the community
without a single improvement of development. Practically the entire
region was covered with a dense growth of pine trees.
After this work as townsite surveyor Mr. Silliman entered the service
of the New York & Mesaba Iron Company, the predecessor of the Lake
Superior Consolidated Iron Mines, in the capacity of engineer. During
the panic beginning in the fall of 1893 he and all employes were glad to
accept New York Clearing House certificates in lieu of money. Mr.
Silliman, in November, 1893, went to Mountain Iron as engineer and
chemist for the Lake Superior Consolidated Iron Mines, which in the
meantime had passed under the control of the Rockefellers. About this
time Mr. Silliman acquired a financial interest in the company, doing
this contrary to the advice of his friends. Subsequent events proved the
wisdom of his course.
Mr. Silliman was a resident of Mountain Iron until the spring of 1899,
and after six months at Iron River, Michigan, returned to Minnesota in
the fall of that year in the employ of the Minnesota Iron Company at
the Genoa and Elba Mines. He was so occupied until April 1, 1900,
when he established an independent office as a mining engineer at
Hibbing.
During the past twenty years Mr. Silliman has been identified as a
technical expert and adviser with nearly every important mine on the
Range. He was one of the original incorporators of the Pearson
Mining Company, operating the Pearson Mine at Nashwauk and the
Morrow Mine at Eveleth. He was the active director of the A. P.
Silliman Exploration Company during its extensive drilling operations
carried on from 1906 to 1915.
On December 26, 1901, Mr. Silliman married Miss Emma Arnold,
of Mankato, Minnesota, daughter of Adam and Christine (Margraf)
Arnold. Adam Arnold was born in Germany and came to the United
States about the same time as Carl Schurz. He had become involved in
the efforts to establish a republican form of government in Germany,
and had to suffer practically exile from his native land. The liberal
spirit, the thrift and enterprise which Germany lost in the emigration
Vol. Ill — 8
1044 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
of such citizens were contributed to the American states, and Adam
Arnold was one of our most exemplary citizens. Mr. and Mrs. Silliman
had five children: Thomas A., Paul D., Frances E., Mary W., and
Arthur P., Jr.
With an unbounded faith in the future of Hibbing and surrounding
territory, Mr. Silliman has never hesitated to invest in local real estate.
From property he personally owned he laid out in 1906 the townsite of
Brooklyn, adjoining Hibbing, containing forty acres. The entire area
was then covered with timber. This was the first addition, and in 1909
he platted another forty acres, comprising a second addition, and soon
afterward both additions were incorporated in the village of Hibbing,
and the recent census gave those additions a population of 2,132. In this
enterprise Mr. Silliman did not follow the usual methods prevailing in a
real estate subdivision. In its native condition the land was partly
swamp and partly covered with heavy timber. The timber was cleared
away, the low ground drained, and Mr. Silliman expended a large
amount of capital in laying out and constructing permanent streets and
installing municipal facilities, including a thoroughly modern water and
electric plant. While thus building solidly for the future, he had his.
foresight and investment substantially rewarded. He has been generous
of time and means to promote all public improvements. He was a
member of the first park board for the village of Hibbing, and assisted
in acquiring the ground that now comprises the two beautiful parks.
During his residence at Mountain Iron he served five years as a member
of the School Board and performed a similar service at Hibbing five
years. He has been supervisor of Stuntz township, and is now a
member of the County W r ork Farm Board and the State Land Improve-
ment Board. He is a life member of the American Institute of Mining
Engineers, also the Lake Superior Institute of Mining Engineers, is
president of the Northern Minnesota Development Association and
president of the St. Louis County Club. During the war he largely
neglected his extensive business interests to give his time as chairman of
the War Savings Stamps Committee for Hibbing district, and other
patriotic causes. Mr. Silliman is independent in politics, is a Scottish
Rite Mason and Mystic Shriner, trustee of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, diocese of Duluth, and is senior warden of Christ Episcopal
Church of Hibbing.
Peter Wall, who is now living retired at Chisholm, is one of the
splendid examples of what the foreign-born American can accomplish
when he brings to this country a willingness to work and gives in return
for the advantages offered him a loyal and sincere service. Mr. Wall
came here a stranger, with but little knowledge of the language, but he has
prospered, and at the same time earned the confidence and respect of those
with whom he has been associated.
The birth of Peter Wall occurred in Finland, March 30, 1875. He is
a son of Gust Wall, also born in Finland, in 1842, who was a miller by
trade. The mother of Peter Wall was born in 1840 and was a native of
Finland. The parents had eight children, of whom Peter was the fifth in
order of birth, and of them four are still living.
When he was fifteen years old Peter Wall began to attend a technical
school at night, and during the three years that he studied in this school
he learned the trade of a baker, and while he was doing this he was assist-
ing his father in his flour-mill. When he was nineteen years old Peter
Wall went to work as a baker, and later bought a business of his own
and conducted it for five years. In 1902 he became a resident of Chis-
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1045
holm, Minnesota, and while he was working as a diamond drill helper for
the Longyear Drilling Company he conducted a small boarding house he
had bought. After eighteen months of this double work he decided to
give it up and attend school so as to gain a working knowledge of the
American language, and for one winter went to school. Feeling thus
better prepared to meet the public, he established himself in a bakery
business and conducted it very successfully until he sold it January 1,
1920, disposing of the business and the building in which his shop was
located, and which he had erected for that purpose.
During the great war Mr. Wall had charge of the flour distribution
among the bakers, restaurants and hotels of Chisholm, and rendered the
Government a very efficient service in this capacity. In politics he is an
independent Republican. Fraternally he belong to Chisholm Lodge No.
1334, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. The Lutheran Church
has in him a faithful member.
On March 14, 1897, Mr. Wall was married to Fannie Rauhala, also a
native of Finland. They have the following children: Jennie E., Arney
P., Sulo G., George A., Helen T. and Frederick T.
C. R. Magney. The mayor and executive head of the municipal gov-
ernment of Duluth from 1917 until 1920 was C. R. Magney, who for about
ten years preceding his election to this post was a successful young lawyer
of the Duluth bar. He resigned as mayor September 15, 1920, and was
elected judge of the District Court in November, 1920, for a term of
six years.
Mr. Magney was born January 11, 1883, in the town of Trenton,
Pierce County, Wisconsin. His father, Rev. Jonas Magney, was a native
of Sweden and was brought to America in 1858 by his parents, who
located at Center City, Minnesota, on a farm. Jonas Magney prepared
himself for the profession of the ministry in the Lutheran Church, and
made that his life occupation. He was a church builder, organizer and
preacher at many points in Wisconsin and Minnesota. He died in
Minnesota in 1910.
C. R. Magney is the eldest in a family of five children, all of whom
are still living. He acquired his early education in the public schools of
South Stillwater, Minnesota, and took his literary course in Gustavus
Adolphus College at St. Peter, where he graduated A. B. in 1903. He
followed that by a law course in Harvard University, from which he holds
the degree LL. B. granted him in 1908. His work as a lawyer brought
him rapid advancement and favorable recognition in Duluth, and on
April 3, 1917, two weeks before America entered war with Germany, he
was elected to the post of mayor. He gave a vigorous administration of
municipal affairs throughout the critical period of the war, and showed
every qualification for heading the government of one of the best cities
in the northwest.
Mr. Magney is a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church of Duluth.
On April 26, 1911, he married Miss Lillian C. Lundgren, whose parents
were natives of Sweden. They have one son, John.
. Selmer M. Johnson, M. D., is a competent and skilled physician and
surgeon whose work for nearly ten years has been identified with the
Buhl community, where he is a member of the staff of the Shaw
Hospital and otherwise actively associated with the senior physician at
Buhl, Dr. A. W. Shaw. Dr. Johnson saw service with the American
Expeditionary Forces in France and was absent from Buhl with the army
nearly a year.
1046 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
He was born at New Richland. Minnesota, October 1, 1884. His
father, Carl Johnson, was born in Norway in 1852, and was less than a
year old when brought to America. He is, therefore, in all important
respects a complete American. He has followed an active career as a
merchant. Carl Johnson married in 1877, and his wife was born in
Wisconsin in 1860, of Norwegian ancestry, and she died in 1898.
Dr. Johnson was the fourth in a family of twelve children, eight of
whom reached mature years. He acquired his early education in the
common schools of New Richland, graduated from the high school there
in 1904, following which he spent one year in St. Olaf College at North-
field. Minnesota, and then began his medical studies in the University
of Minnesota. He was in the University Medical School four years,
graduating in 1909. The following year he served as an interne in the
hospital at Minneapolis, then for a few months engaged in a general
practice at Davenport, North Dakota, and later at Menomonie, Wiscon-
sin, but in March, 1911, began his long association which has continued
practically ten years with Dr. Shaw at Buhl.
In September, 1915, Dr. Johnson married Miss Louise de Haas, who
was born in St. Paul of German-Swiss ancestry. The three children of
their marriage are Selmer M. and Charles Frederick, twins, born Mav 21,
1916, and Helen Louise, born April 6, 1920.
It was on June 6, 1918, that Dr. Johnson was enrolled and received his
commission as first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps. On August
1, 1918, he was sent for training to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, remained
there six weeks, and then went overseas as a casual. On reaching France
he was attached to the 103rd Ammunition Train of the 28th Division, and
it was with that body of the Expeditionary forces that he saw his real
service during the Meuse-Argonne campaign. In April following the
signing of the armistice he was transferred to the 539th Engineers, and
with that contingent returned to America, reaching our shores June 30,
1919. He received his honorable discharge from service July 15th at
Camp Dodge, Iowa, and a day or so later resumed his active association
with Dr. Shaw at Buhl.
Dr. Johnson is a member of the St. Louis County and State Medical
Societies, the American Medical Association, is an independent in politics
and is affiliated with Hematite Lodge No. 274 of the Masonic Order. In
1917. in 1919 and again in 1920 he was elected a member of the Buhl
School Board.
Emanuel A. Swanstrom, a prominent Duluth real estate man, mem-
ber of the firm of Swanstrom Brothers, is a son of the late Emanuel G.
Swanstrom, a Duluth pioneer, who for many years was one of the
strongest and ablest men in the northern country.
Emanuel G. Swanstrom was born in Sweden and came to America in
1854, and for a year or so was employed in labor in Chisago County and
located at Duluth in 1856, when the city was in the first stages of its
growth and development. He rose above his early circumstances as a
common laborer, and in the early seventies engaged in the grocery busi-
ness at Oneota, and for sixteen years served as county commissioner.
President Arthur appointed him receiver of the Land Office. He also
represented the county in both the House of Representatives and the
Senate, and had the distinction of introducing many bills in both Houses,
and on good authority it is said he never lost a measure he proposed. His
associates in the Legislature and in his community recognize his sterling
judgment and integrity, and the depth of sincere interest he manifested in
everything pertaining to the welfare of northern Minnesota. He bgan
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DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1047
life with little education, developed his own resources, and many promi-
nent men took pride in his acquaintance. He was prominent in politics,
casting his first vote in 1860 for Abraham Lincoln, and helped support
the Republican party in local and state and national affairs. He was a
member of the Lutheran Church. Emanuel G. Swanstrom married Jennie
L. Abbott, and of their seven children six are still living.
Fifth among them is Emanuel A. Swanstrom, who was born at Duluth
January 26, 1878. He acquired his education in the public schools of his
native city, and when about eighteen years of age went -to work as a
stenographer for the Duluth-Mesaba Railway. He was with the railroad
for about a year and later for about eight years was bookkeeper and
stenographer for the Amenia Elevator Company. Mr. Swanstrom
embarked in the real estate business in 1908, forming a partnership with
his brother, A. F. Swanstrom, under the name Swanstrom Brothers.
They have perfected an organization that has handled many large and
important deals in real estate both in Duluth and surrounding territory.
Mr. Swanstrom is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and
Shriner and a member of the Elks Lodge. August 3, 1904, he married
Miss Tillie C. Knudsen. They have one daughter, Verena M. L.
Swanstrom, born November 26, 1912.
James Hart. An example of determination, ambition and industry
culminating in the acquirement of success and position is found in the
career of James Hart, president of the Duluth Ice Company. Mr. Hart
was possessed of only ordinary public school advantages when he started
life on his own account, and his rise has been solely due to his own
efforts and abilities. His rise from mine-boy to man of large business
affairs has bridged a wide gap, and in this bridging he has taken advan-
tage of only strictly legitimate opportunities.
Mr. Hart was born in the Province of Ontario, Canada, November 18,
1861. a son of James Hart, also a native of Canada, who brought his
family to the United States in 1864, at that time settling in the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan, where he engaged in teaming and contracting.
Subsequently he removed to Duluth in 1889, and followed the same
lines of business until his death in 1906. He and his wife were the
parents of eleven children, of whom James Hart, the younger, was the
fourth in order of birth. He attended the public schools of Michigan
until he reached the age of thirteen years, and at that time secured
employment in the Calumet and later in the Hecla Mines, being thus
employed until he reached the age of twenty-one years. He was next
employed by Briggs & Cole, of Calumet, in the mining business, remaining
with that concern five years, and in 1889 accompanied the family to
Duluth, which has since been his home and the scene of his successful
business ventures. In 1909 Mr. Hart became the founder and organizer
of the Duluth Ice and Fuel Company, of which he was made president,
the company starting its activities by handling lake ice, with a large plant
located on Spirit Lake. This furnished sufficient product for the com-
pany's customers for seven years, but the advent of the United States
Steel Corporation's plant, with its great number of employes, in 1916
increased the company's field of operation, and Mr. Hart accordingly
found it necessary to increase in proportion his output. Accordingly he
erected a large artificial ice plant at First avenue and East Buchanan, this
having a capacity of approximately 100 tons a day. The office is located
at No. Ill East Superior street. In connection with the ice business
Mr. Hart carries on a coal business, selling the best brands, including
Premium Anthracite and other noted brands of hard coal. He has like-
1048 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
wise been identified with various other business industries of Duluth and
was the incorporator of the Hart Transfer and Storage Company, of
which he is president.
Mr. Hart has a number of important civic connections and is affiliated
with several fraternities. In all avenues of life's activity he has been
found reliable and trustworthy, and in the long list of those whose confi-
dence and esteem he has secured there are to be found numerous warm
and appreciative friends.
Mr. Hart was married on the 3rd of June, 1884, to Kate C. Rogan, a
native of New Jersey. Their five children, all living, are : James J., Rose
D., Edward L., Mary J., and Albert S., the boys being associated with
their father.
James P. Vaughan. The schools of Chisholm are in keeping with
the progress of the time in the Range country of northern Minnesota.
A maxim of the "Range" is "the best is not too good." With wealth at
its command, the public of Chisholm has demanded the best at the hands
of its officials and secured it. Acting upon this the school authorities
looked about to secure the services of an educator of national fame and
the highest scholarly attainments, and found that their exacting require-
ments were realized in James P. Vaughan, to whom they offered the
superintendency of their schools. The fact that his services have been
retained through a period of years proves that he has measured up to
the ideals of the people, and that here he has found congenial and
stimulating surroundings and conditions.
James P. Vaughan was born at Eyota, Minnesota, February 22, 1882,
a son of Daniel and Catherine (Madden) Vaughan, the former being a
farmer of Olmstead County, Minnesota. One of nine children, Mr.
Vaughan was brought up to make himself useful on the home farm, but
at the same time was given opportunity to attend the public schools of
his neighborhood. His naturally strong mentality was not satisfied with
the instruction furnished him, and he also had ambitions which reached
out beyond the confines of a farming community, and so in 1898 he went
to Winona, Minnesota, and took a course in the State Normal School,
from which he was graduated in 1902, and during this time did high
school work at the normal school.
For two years Mr. Vaughan was principal of the schools at North
Branch, Minnesota, and then attended the University of Wisconsin at
Madison, from which he was graduated in 1907 with the degree of
Bachelor of Philosophy, and at the same time he did considerable work
toward a Master's degree. In 1907 he came to Chisholm to assume
charge of the schools, and has since retained that responsible position,
and under his fostering care they have been built up until they compare
favorably with similar institutions in any community no matter what its
size. Mr. Vaughan belongs to the Kiwanis Club, of which at its organiza-
tion in 1920 he was elected the first president. He belongs to the Phi
Beta Kappa college fraternity and the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks. Mr. Vaughan has turned his talents into literary channels and is
the author of a monograph on "Educational Democracy," and has long
been a valued contributor to the educational press. He belongs to the
Minnesota State Educational Association, and has frequently made public
addresses on educational subjects.
In 1917 he was married to Miss Leathe Wright, of Rensselaer, Indi-
ana. Mr. Vaughan has always held that a sound education strengthens
the moral consciousness and tempers the soul for life. In all of his work
and writings he has had a distinct impulse toward the humanities, and
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1049
has been an inspiration among his pupils for activities of the best sort.
He has awakened in their hearts the creative joy of good work and
started more than one of them on the highway to fame and fortune.
Byron H. Graham. Just a year after the great forest fire that
destroyed the village of Chisholm Byron H. Graham became a citizen
of the community, and has since developed and carried on an extensive
business as an electrical contractor and dealer in electrical supplies.
Mr. Graham was born at Marshall, Minnesota, November 23, 1881.
Both his parents are of Scotch ancestry. His father, Alexander Graham,
was born in Wisconsin November 13, 1842, and his mother lived to the
remarkable age of a hundred and one years, having been born in 1813
and dying in 1914. In 1866 Alexander Graham married Margaret Hale,
who was born in Illinois in May, 1846. Both are still living. Alexander
Graham came to Minnesota with an ox team before railroads were con-
structed through the northwest, spent a long and active life as a farmer
but is now retired.
Byron H. Graham acquired a substantial education at Brainerd,
Minnesota, graduating from the high school there in 1898. For one
term he taught in a country school near Brainerd, worked eight months
in a grocery store, at the end of which time he and his brother Orton
bought out the store and conducted it as a partnership proposition for
two years. Mr. Graham's next venture was the establishment of a livery
business, and this was continued about two years. On retiring from that
business he spent perhaps a year in travel over the different states, and
in 1905 first engaged in the electrical business at Staples, Minnesota.
He was there two years, and in September, 1909, arrived at Chisholm and
has had a busy part in the general building program and in supplying a
general electrical contracting service to this community.
Mr. Graham wherever he has lived has shown a keen interest in
iocal affairs and his good citizenship has been especially pronounced at
Chisholm. He served some time as village recorder, in 1916-17 and
1917-18, was village trustee in 1915-16, and is now a member of the
Water and Light Board. During the World war he was chief of draft
registration and a member of the Draft Advisory Board. Mr. Graham
in politics is classified as an independent Democrat. He is much inter-
ested in athletics, particularly baseball, and has been identified in an
official way with the Chisholm Baseball Club and at one time was its
president. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Com-
mercial Club, is present exalted ruler of Lodge No. 1334 of the Elks,
being a charter member of that lodge, and is affiliated with Chisholm
Lodge No. 179, Knights of Pythias, Hematite Lodge No. 274, Accepted
Free and Ancient Masons, Duluth Scottish Rite Consistory and Aad
Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Duluth.
Mr. Graham married Miss Bessie Mackaman, who was born at Shel-
don, Iowa, in October, 1882. Their six children are named lone, Donald,
Inez, Bessie, William and Margaret.
Thomas J. Murphy. The mining interests of the Mesaba Range
are so important as to demand the best efforts of some of the most com-
petent mining experts of the country, and one of them worthy of special
mention is Thomas J. Murphy, mining captain for the Oliver Mines at
Buhl. He was born in Cumberland, England, May 20, 1859, a son of
Thomas and Mary (Drake) Murphy, natives of Ireland, who were mar-
ried in England, and became the parents of five children, of whom
1050 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Thomas J. was the youngest. Thomas Murphy was a miner, and was
engaged in that line of work at Cumberland for a number of years.
Thomas J. Murphy has received the greater portion of his educational
training in the stern school of practical experience. When only twelve
years old he started to work in a mill, and did odd jobs, being thus
employed until he was twenty years old. At that time he went into
the mines as a miner's helper, and two years later took a partner and
became a full-fledged miner, working as such in England until 1884,
when he came to the United States, and for about a year thereafter
worked on the New York, New England & Hartford Railroad. Mr. Mur-
phy then came as far west as Michigan and found employment in the old
Puritan iron mine at Vassar, working there as a miner for about a
year. He then went to the Tontene Mine, now called the Federal Mine,
and a year later left it to go to the Wakefield Mine, both of which are
near Vassar. He then went to Ironwood, Michigan, as a miner in the
Ashland Mine, and was connected with it, the Big Norrie and the First
National from 1890 to 1893, following which he worked in the coal
mines of Iowa for about a year. In 1895 he went to Virginia, Minne-
sota, and found employment in the old Victoria Mine "test piting." Six
months later he went to the Franklin Mine, and worked as a miner for
a year, leaving it to work for a few months in the Commodore Mine. His
next employment was in the Mesaba Mountain Pit as a driller, all of
the work in those days being done by hand, and he spent a part of
the summer there. He then went to Arizona and worked as a miner
and explorer in the following gold mines : Old Senator, the Crook Canon
and the Chicago, spending about a year in this work, and then returning,
in 1898, to Eveleth, Minnesota, to work in the Adams Mine as a miner
and later a shift boss, continuing with this mine for about thirteen
years. Once more he went to Virginia, Minnesota, and was night captain
of the Alpena Mine for about two years, leaving it to come to Buhl and
assisted in opening the Oliver Mines, of which he is captain.
Mr. Murphy is one of the progressive men of Buhl and has been
treasurer of the Mesaba Mountain township, and is a member of the
Buhl Library Board. In politics he is an independent Republican. A
Catholic, he is active in church work, and belongs to the Knights of
Columbus of Virginia. During the late war he was collector for the
Young Men's Christian Association and the Knights of Columbus.
On January 15, 1889, Mr. Murphy was married in England to Miss
Ellen Cavenaugh, who was born in Ireland. After her husband had
made a home for. her Mrs. Murphy followed him to the United States,
arriving here in 1891. Their children are as follows: Mary, who is a
graduate nurse at the City and County Hospital at St. Paul, Minnesota;
Margaret, who has charge of the supply room of the Buhl High School ;
Gregory J., who is a veteran of the great war, having served overseas,
and is now a sergeant of police at Buhl ; James, who is also a veteran of
the great war. and is a professional ball player in the summer and a
hanker in the winter ; Dennis, who was in the army during the great war,
is a graduate of Hibbing College and now attending the University of
Wisconsin : and William, Emmett, Doroth and Katherine, all of whom
are attending school.
Benjamin E. Baker. The monotony which often ensues from the
following of any single line of endeavor has never been a feature of the
career of Benjamin E. Baker. His life has been one of varied activities
in various parts of the country, and while his chief attention at this
time is devoted to the grain commission business at Duluth, he is inter-
ested also in various other enterprises.
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DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1051
Mr. Baker was born at Dover, Olmsted County, Minnesota, June 20,
1868. His father, Ezekiel Porter Baker, was a native of Maine, who
with four brothers came to Minnesota in the fall of 1861. He and one
brother enlisted in the Union army during the Civil war, and Ezekiel P.
Baker served more than three years. For a time he was engaged in the
grain business with his brothers at Winona, but later turned his atten-
tion to farming in Olmsted County, where he also conducted a pork-
packing business. One of two children, Benjamin E. Baker was reared
and educated at Winona. His early life was adventurous and somewhat
typical of the red-blooded youth of the land, for when he was but fifteen
years of age he ran away from home and secured employment with the
Diamond Joe Steamship Line on the Mississippi River. Later he went
to South Dakota, where he took up a homestead, but his experience there
was anything but a happy one, and after two years, during which he
nearly starved on several occasions, he sold out for a small sum.
Mr. Baker then went to Mankota, Minnesota, where he worked for the
Standard Oil Company, and then for a time was a resident of St. Paul.
In the fall of 1890 he came to Duluth, and this city has continued to be
his home.
Upon locating at Duluth Mr. Baker embarked in the real estate busi-
ness, and in 1894 became a member of the Board of Trade and has since
been in the grain commission business. During his career he has had
confidence in his own judgment and the willingness to back that judg-
ment, and this has at times made his operations somewhat spectacular,
with the result that he has made and lost several sizeable fortunes. One
of his most successful ventures was an investment in the oil fields of
Louisiana. He induced nine of his friends to go in with him, each
putting up $5,000, and while before that time he had never seen an oil
derrick in his life, after two years in the oil fields he returned to Duluth
with winnings of something like $300,000. Other enterprises have bene-
fited by his identification with them. A large factor in Mr. Baker's suc-
cess may be said to be his capacity for making and keeping friends. Of
a jovial and generous nature, he loves his home, his family and his
friends, and this love is his real life.
In 1894 he married Miss Clara Dewey, of St. Paul, whose father was
a second cousin of Admiral George Dewey. Three children have been
born to this union: Philip, who served as a flying ensign in the dirigible
service under Admiral Sims in the World war; James, who was a second
lieutenant aerial gunner in that struggle ; and Dorothy, who studied for
a nurse but was denied the privilege of going overseas. The boys
enlisted while students at Yale.
George Lerch. The Lerch Brothers came to the Mesaba Range in
its infancy. Virginia had then about eight houses ; Hibbing had not yet
been born. They are chemists and their services were in demand as the
various mines came into being. Becoming contractors, they engaged to
do the chemical work for the companies engaged in developing these
mining properties. From a humble beginning they have become pros-
perous, their success being undoubtedly enhanced by the fact that they
are masters of their profession. Today they have some thirteen different
laboratories and employ about eighty men. It is said that the Lerch
Brothers are the largest independent chemists in the world. They have
participated in the constructive work of this region and have seen Vir-
ginia and Hibbing grow into flourishing little cities where are centered
some of the most important mining properties in northern Minnesota.
When they came to the Range the utmost pioneer conditions prevailed.
1052 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
and they, like the others of that period, had to endure the hardships
incident to frontier life and because of them they can all the more appre-
ciate the comforts and luxuries of today.
George Lerch was born at Easton, Pennsylvania, August 22, 1865, a
son of David and Sarah (Young) Lerch, both of Pennsylvania, and of
Dutch ancestry. . By occupation David Lerch was a contractor, and dur-
ing the war between the north and the south he served as a soldier of
the Union army. His death occurred in 1910, when he was eighty-nine
years of age.
Growing up in his native place, George Lerch completed its high
school course in 1885, and then matriculated at Lafayette College and
was graduated therefrom as a chemical engineer in 1889. He began his
professional career as chemist for the Bethlehem Steel Company at
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and continued with that company until 1892,
when he came west to Virginia, Minnesota, and with his brother, Fred
Lerch, embarked as an independent chemist. From Virginia he came
to Hibbing in 1895. It was in this year that the Mahoning Mine was
opened, and the Lerch Brothers have continued to be its chemists. In
addition to attending to all of the chemical work for the Mahoning Mine,
these brothers are doing similar work for eighty other mines, and their
business is all conducted under contract.
When Fred Lerch first walked into what is now Hibbing there was
scarcely a building in the town. When George Lerch came here it was
but a very small place with no public improvements. On the present site
of the Mahoning, Hull-Rusk and other mines a dense forest stood, all
of which has since been cleared away. George Lerch has confined his
labors strictly to his business and rarely if ever mixes in politics except
to exercise his right of franchise. He helped to organize the Presby-
terian Church at Virginia and also the one of that denomination at Hib-
bing. He is a Royal Arch and thirty-second degree Mason and belongs
to the Mystic Shrine. He is a charter member of Mesaba Lodge No. 255,
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he belongs to the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks.
On December 17, 1898, Mr. Lerch was married to Miss Fannie Mar-
vin, a daughter of Luke A. Marvin, of Duluth, Minnesota. The Marvins
were the fourth family to locate at what is now Duluth.
I. K. Lewis. A Duluth lawyer whose attainments have brought him
some prominent associations and a large amount of business in his pro-
fession, I. K. Lewis spent his early life largely on a Wisconsin farm,
but was thoroughly equipped and liberally educated in preparation for
his professional career.
He was born October 6, 1880, son of James and Margaret Lewis, both
of Welsh ancestry and nativity. James Lewis came from Wales to Amer-
ica in 1867, and became a successful farmer in Monroe County, Wis-
consin. He is still living, at the age of eighty-five, at Nashotah, Wiscon-
sin. His life record has many things to commend it. In business he was
first and last a good farmer, knew how to till the soil and manage his
affairs, and at one time had about four hundred and forty acres under
his management, producing both stock and grain. He has been a Repub-
lican in politics, a member of the Congregational Church and among his
personal characteristics were two which might be mentioned : One being
to pay his bills promptly, and the other an intense desire and habit of
giving absolutely a square deal to everyone. He was the father of nine
children, five of whom are living today, the Duluth lawyer being next to
the youngest. His mother, Margaret Lewis, was the youngest daughter
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1053
of a well-to-do farmer of Carnarvonshire, Wales. She possessed much
of the native ability and independent spirit of her race, and was untiring
in her labors for her family and in her efforts to build into the char-
acter of her children a high regard for integrity and industry.
I. K. Lewis spent his early life on his father's farm, attended the
country schools at Herseyville in Monroe County, also a village school
at Bangor, Wisconsin, and graduated from high school at Sparta. His
literary education was completed when he was graduated with the A. B.
degree from Beloit College at Beloit, Wisconsin. He acquired his pro-
fessional training in Harvard Law School, which gave him his LL. B.
degree. Mr. Lewis came to Duluth in 1909 and has been busily engaged
in law practice ever since. He started as law clerk in the firm of
Washburn, Bailey & Mitchell. About a year later he formed a law
partnership with Howard T. Abbott and E. B. Merrill under the firm
name of Abbott, Merrill & Lewis. Mr. Merrill withdrew from the firm
about three years later, and two others who came into the partnership
were E. W. MacPherran and George M. Gilbert, changing the firm name
to Abbott, MacPherran, Lewis & Gilbert. Mr. Lewis continued a member
of that firm until November 1, 1917, at which time he withdrew to con-
duct his own practice, and from that date until January 1, 1921. he
practiced alone with offices in the Lonsdale Building. On January 1,
1921, he organized the firm of Lewis and Hunt by forming a partner-
ship with Rolls F. Hunt, a friend from law school days. The firm is
engaged in general practice, involving also much insurance and corpora-
tion law, with offices at 800 Lonsdale Building. Mr. Lewis has been and
is associated with a number of business enterprises in Duluth.
He is affiliated with the Masonic Order and the Order of Elks, belongs
to the Young Men's Christian Association, Commercial Club, Boat Club,
Kitchi Gammi Club and Kiwanis Club, is independent in politics with a
Republican leaning, and for several years has been prominent in the
Methodist Episcopal Church, serving as class leader and superintendent
of the Sunday School and president of the Men's Club. During the
World war he served as a "Four Minute Man," and as a member of the
Minnesota Home Guards.
On October 6, 1914, at Elgin, Illinois, Mr. Lewis married Berenice
Ella Wright, daughter of John A. and Frances Ella Wright. Mrs. Lewis
was educated in the public schools of Elgin, and was graduated from
Emerson College at Boston. Since her marriage she has enjoyed many
social activities and community responsibilities in Duluth, being a worker
in the Young Women's Christian Association, the Camp Fire Girls, and
had charge of one of the Red Cross Circles for French relief during the
World war. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis have two children : Margaret, born
December 3, 1915, and John Wright, born October 20, 1918.
The Washington Junior High School is located on Lake avenue
and Third street. It is one of the most modern high school buildings in
the northwest. It is a block in length and has two large wings.
The Junior High School includes the seventh, eighth and ninth grades
and offers a wide range of subjects. The course of study includes the
academic subjects, English, history, mathematics, geography, French and
Latin ; the commercial subjects of bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic,
stenography and typewriting; the art subjects of drawing, design, paint-
ing, lettering, art history, art appreciation, metalry, jewelry, pottery,
basketry and weaving. Music is required in all grades. An orchestra
of thirty pieces and boys' and girls' choruses have been organized.
1054 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
The principal at the present time is Mr. A. M. Santee. He was born
at Oswego, Kansas, and was the only son of six children. When about
ten years of age his parents moved to Princeville, Illinois, where he
attended the upper grades and high school. He is a graduate of the
Illinois State Normal University, also of the University of Illinois, from
which school he received the A. B. and A. M. degrees. For four years
he was superintendent of public schools at Ipava, Illinois, and for six
years superintendent at Virginia, Illinois. He then re-entered the Uni-
versity of Illinois in the graduate school and was elected assistant in the
Department of Education. While there he became deeply interested in
junior high school work, and out of this interest and his many qualifica-
tions followed his employment at Duluth.
The manual training shops are extensive and well equipped courses are
offered in wood-working, wood-turning, pattern making, forge foundry,
sheet metal, machine wood-working, machine shop, printing, electricity,
mechanical drawing and automobile repairing. The Home Training
department offers courses in physiology and home nursing, textiles, house-
hold management, dressmaking, foods and cookery, household science
and millinery.
Pupils from Central High School who elect art, manual training or
home training come to this building for their work in these subjects.
Some of the outstanding features of the Junior High School are
departmental work, promotion by subjects, division of pupils into classes
of about equal ability and opportunity for shop and home training work.
Oscar B. Bjorge is chief engineer and secretary of the Clyde Iron
Works, one of the largest iron working plants in the Duluth district and
one of the largest firms in the country manufacturing machinery for
lumbering and logging industries.
Mr. Bjorge was born at Underwood, Minnesota, January 5, 1886,
a son of H. P. and Janette Bjorge. His parents were both natives of
Norway and came to the United States in 1870. For many years they
had their home in Ottertail County, Minnesota, but in 1899 removed to
Duluth. In Ottertail County H. P. Bjorge was a farmer and merchant
at Underwood, but since coming to Duluth has become prominent in
state official affairs and has served as a member of the State Board of
Grain Appeals at Duluth. He was a member of the Legislature from
Ottertail County five terms, from 1885 to 1895.
Oscar B. Bjorge is the fourth in a family of eight children, five of
whom are still living. He attended the common schools at Underwood
until he was thirteen years of age, and in 1903 graduated from the
Duluth High School and then entered the University of Minnesota, where
he pursued a technical course and graduated with the Mechanical Engi-
neering degree in 1907. On coming out of university he was teacher of
mechanical drawing in the Mechanical Arts High School at St. Paul
from 1907 to 1909.
Since 1909 Mr. Bjorge has been connected with the Clyde Iron Works
of Duluth, and has filled the responsible post of chief engineer since
1912. He became a member of the Board of Directors in July. 1920, and
secretary of the company in January, 1921. He is a member of the
Engineers' Club, Curling Club, Boat Club, Kitchi Gammi Club, Ridge-
view Golf Club, president of the Duluth Rotary Club in 1921-2, a member
of Sigma Xi, Honorary Scientific Fraternity, Tau Beti Pi. Honorary
Engineering Fraternity and of the American Society of Mechanical Engi-
neers. He is also a member of the Commercial Club of Duluth, is
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1055
affiliated with Ionic Lodge No. 186, Accepted Free and Ancient Masons,
and is a member of the Unitarian Church and in politics is independent.
Mr. Bjorge was married in January, 1921, to Miss Ann Mary McCar-
thy, of Duluth, formerly of Marquette, Michigan.
Oliver O. Ormond began his career as a railway telegrapher, was a
railroad man when he first came to the Iron Range district, but for fifteen
years has been engaged in various grades of responsibility with some of
the large iron mining corporations and is now a superintendent of the
Hanna Mines at Buhl.
Mr. Ormond was born at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 18, 1881. His
father, Charles Ormond, was born in South Wales January 19, 1843,
and was eighteen years of age when he came to the United States in 1861.
The following year he showed his practical patriotism by enlisting. in the
Union army and fought for the preservation of the Union until the end
of the war. After the war he removed to Milwaukee and entered the
service of S. S. Merrill as contracting superintendent, and continued with
that well-known industrial operator for a number of years. He is now
seventy-seven years of age, is still active as a farmer, and is an example
of the rugged vitality of his race.
Oliver O. Ormond is the youngest of six children. He was only two
years of age when his mother died. She was also of Welsh birth and
ancestry. As a boy he lived in his father's home at Milwaukee, attended
the public schools in that city, but since fifteen years of age has been
launched on his independent career. He learned telegraphy and worked
as a telegraph operator and clerk, at first with the Chicago & Northwest-
ern Railway and later with the Great Northern. In the employ of the
Great Northern he came to the Range country in 1903, being first assigned
to duty at Buhl, then at Chisholm, Sandstone and Swan River. In 1905
he left the service of the Great Northern and became a locomotive fire-
man for the Wisconsin Steel Company at Agnew. He was successively
promoted to locomotive engineer, night foreman and then day foreman.
Since 1912 he has been in the employ of the M. A. Hanna Mining Com-
pany, beginning as day walking boss in charge of the Brunt Mine and
the Hanna A and B pits. In November, 1918, he was transferred to
Buhl as mining captain for the specific purpose of reopening the -Frantz
Mine. Soon afterward he was made superintendent of that mine, and
is now superintendent also of the Thorne Mine and is opening the
W r abigon Mine.
Mr. Ormond served as captain of his district for the promotion of
all the Liberty Loan drives during the war. He is a Republican in poli-
tics. On January 14, 1911, he married Miss Grace Murray, of Michigan.
She is of Scottish ancestry. They have one son, Oliver Preston Ormond.
Adam N. Schirmer by long experience and study has become a master
of that difficult branch of mechanical engineering known as plumbing,
and has built up a large business as a contractor in plumbing, heating,
furnace and ventilating work at Chisholm. Mr. Schirmer has been a
resident of Chisholm since 1912, and has been on the Iron Ranges for
twelve years.
He was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, July 13, 1887, son of Adolph
and Elizabeth (Schueler) Schirmer. His father was born at Hanover
and his mother at Berlin, Germany, but they were married after they
came to this country. Adolph Schirmer for thirty-eight years was an
employe of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company in
the mechanical department at Cedar Rapids. He died in 1913 and his
widow is still living.
1056 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
One of four children, Adam N. Schirmer grew up in Cedar Rapids,
graduated from the high school with the class of 1904, and almost
immediately took up a mechanical trade. His father at that time was
the official valve setter for the Rock Island Railway, and the son served
his apprenticeship as a machinist under his father. He began at ninety
cents a day, later was put in charge of the air-brake department, still
later had his quarters at Estherville, Iowa, in the employ of the Rock
Island Company, and leaving railroading he went west to Phillip, South
Dakota, where he filed on a quarter section of land. He performed all
the duties necessary to prove up his claim and lived on it for fourteen
months. Part of that time he also worked at his trade at Pierre.
Mr. Schirmer came to Hibbing, Minnesota, in 1908, and the following
four years was in the service of his cousin, A. C. Schirmer, in the plumb-
ing business, and by practical work and study mastered every branch of
the business. Then, in 1912, he moved to Chisholm and started in a
limited way to build up a contracting business. To his father, who
implanted in his mind the principles of industry, honesty and frugality,
Mr. Schirmer attributes much of his success. Now his business has
assumed large proportions, involving the service of a score of men, and
his organization is usually called upon for all the high class work in
such public buildings as schools and libraries, besides many contracts for
installation of plumbing and heating appliances in stores and private
residences.
June 9, 1911, Mr. Schirmer married Miss Olive Bradstreet, of Inde-
pendence, Iowa. They have two children, Jack and Faye. Mr. Schirmer
is a Lutheran, is an independent voter in politics, and has a number of
interesting associations with the people and affairs of northern Minne-
sota. He is a member of the Engineers' Club of Northern Minnesota, the
Commercial Clubs of Hibbing and Chisholm, the Kiwanis Club of Chis-
holm, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and is
a past exalted ruler of the Elks Lodge of Chisholm.
George H. Dormer for a quarter of a century has performed services
of increasing responsibility in connection with the Oliver Iron Mining
Company, is widely known over the Iron Range district in northern
Minnesota, and recently has been transferred to Buhl as superintendent
of the local mines of the Oliver Company.
Mr. Dormer was born at Lanark, Ontario, Canada, June 15, 1874, and
is of old American and Scotch ancestry. His father, John J. Dormer, was
born in New York state, was a moulder and machinist by trade, and for a
number of years was an electrical worker in mines. In 1872 John J.
Dormer married Margaret Herbert, who was born in Ontario, of Scotch
. ancestry.
The oldest of five children, George H. Dormer was four years of age
when his parents moved to Manitoba, and was nine when they estab-
lished another home in North Dakota. It was in North Dakota that he
spent most of his youth. He graduated from the Pembina High School
about 1892, and after acquiring some proficiency in shorthand as the
result of attending a business school in Minneapolis went to work for the
county attorney of Pembina, North Dakota, and was thus employed in
his office about two years. Then came another business course at the
Curtis Business College at Minneapolis, and then for about two years he
was bookkeeper and later cashier of a bank at Neihart, Montana. He was
doing well, had good prospects of advancement, and might probably have
ended by becoming a successful banker had not a spell of typhoid fever
interrupted his career in the far west. While convalescing he spent about
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1057
a year at home with his parents at Pembina, and on June 1, 1895, took his
first position with an iron mine as stenographer and bookkeeper for the
Minnesota Iron Company. He has been with some branch of the Oliver
Iron Mining Company continuously since that date. In 1905 he was
transferred to the Fayal Mine, was made cashier and chief clerk of the
Fayal, and in 1906 rose to the responsibilities of mine superintendent. He
remained at the Fayal for a dozen years, and in April, 1918, was trans-
ferred to Virginia, and in April, 1919, came to Buhl as superintendent of
the local mines.
Mr. Dormer was a member of the School Board at Eveleth for twelve
or fourteen years, and in different localities has endeavored to perform
his duties as a citizen. He is a member of the Engineers Club of North-
ern Minnesota, is a Republican, belongs to the Episcopal Church and is
affiliated with the Masonic Lodge at Eveleth. In October, 1906, he mar-
ried Miss May Frezona, of Eveleth. She is of English ancestry. They
have three children: George G., born in 1909; Louise J., born in 1911;
and Richard J., born in 1919.
George N. Butch art, M. D. By reason of twenty-five years of resi-
dence and earnest and capable work, Doctor Butchart is dean of the
medical profession of Hibbing and one of the honored men of his voca-
tion in northern Minnesota.
Doctor Butchart was born on a farm in County Gray, Canada,
December 23, 1872, son of William and Agnes (Russell) Butchart. His
parents were also born in Canada, of Scotch ancestry. In 1876 the family
removed to the United States, where William Butchart bought an old
plantation in North Carolina. He remained in that section of the south
and operated the farm and plantation for ten years. He then returned to
Canada, where he and his wife spent their last days.
George N. Butchart was four years of age when taken to North
Carolina, and his boyhood was chiefly environed by the scenes and activi-
ties of an old southern cotton plantation. Later he lived in western
Canada, and in 1891 graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree from
Manitoba College. For a time he clerked in a drug store in Manitoba,
which was still on the western frontier, also owned a drug business in
that province, and during the winter of 1892 entered the Omaha Medical
College at Omaha, Nebraska, .and completed his course and graduated
in 1895.
In July of the same year' Doctor Butchart located in Hibbing, Minne-
sota, and almost continuously for twenty-five years has given his energies
and talents to his profession in that locality. For six years he was first
assistant in Rood Hospital. For about eighteen months Doctor Butchart
was engaged in medical contract work for a mining corporation in Mich-
igan, but then returned to Hibbing. He served as deputy county coroner
a number of years, for several years was village health officer, served one
year as a member of the Village Council and is a member of the County,
State and American Medical Associations, votes as a Republican and is
affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and the Order of Elks.
On May 12, 1895, 'Doctor Butchart married Miss Minnie Lockhart of
Manitoba. They have two children, Dana Lockhart and Gwenith Jean.
The son, Dana, graduated from Columbia Military Academy in Tennessee
in 1916, and in June, 1920, finished the work of the Junior College of
Hibbing, Minnesota. In the meantime he had enlisted for service in the
World war, and received his preliminary training in aviation at Toronto,
1058 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Canada, and was granted a second lieutenant's commission in the
Canadian Royal Air Service, and was made first lieutenant overseas. He
sailed for service abroad on his twentieth birthday, and was honorably
discharged after the signing of the armistice.
Leighton R. Simons. There is not a community in the country
which has not its veterans of the great war, young men who, having
rendered their countrv a service inspired by patriotism and the determina-
tion to protect it from foreign invasion, are now back home and prepared
to give just as efficient aid in conquering the foes to law and order and
the proper development of the natural resources as they were when in
uniform. These young men are making history, and their impress will be
on the generations to come. No man can pass through an experience like
theirs without coming back strengthened and broadened, provided, of
course, the natural tendencies were good. St. Louis County sent forth
the very flower of its young manhood, and fortunately for all concerned
only a few of the stars in its service flag turned to gold, the majority of
the soldiers having been returned in comparative safety. One of the
stalwart young veterans who has an honorable record of overseas service
is Leighton R. Simons, one of the rising young attorneys of Buhl.
Leighton R. Simons was born at Carlton, Minnesota, April 8. 1889, a
son of Edwin N. Simons, who was born November 24, 1859, at Sterling,
Pennsylvania. He came west in 1880, locating at Thomson, Minnesota,
at that time a saw mill town located twenty miles southwest of Duluth.
There he became engaged as a shingle contractor in the saw mills, and was
so occupied for a number of years at Thomson. Cloquet. Carlton and
West Duluth. He came to Virginia in 1905, and is now a filer employed
at the Virginia and Rainy Lake sawmill. The Simons family is of
Irish and German descent. Edwin N. Simons was married to Miss Mary
Owens April 15, 1886. She is of Welsh and Dutch parentage, and was
born March 31, 1867, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They became the
parents of four children, of whom Leighton R. is the second in order of
birth.
Leighton R. Simons attended the graded schools of Carlton and
Cloquet, Minnesota, and the high schools of Cloquet and Virginia, Minne-
sota, being graduated from the one at Virginia in 1906. For the subse-
quent year he was employed with his father in the mills, and then entered
the University of Minnesota, from which he was graduated in 1911 with
the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Returning to Virginia, he spent a year
working in the city engineer's department of Virginia, and then entered
the law school of the University of Minnesota and was graduated there-
from in 1914 and was admitted to the bar of Minnesota that same year.
While at college he was interested in athletics, especially basket ball, and
he was also active in the literary and debating societies to which he
belonged.
Soon after securing his degree Mr. Simons entered the law office of
A. E. Templeton of Hibbing, Minnesota, and there spent three months,
but in the spring of 1915 came to Buhl and was associated in law practice
with A. R. Folsom. leaving him in September, 1915, to open an office of
his own. During 1919 he served Buhl as village attorney and was reap-
pointed to that office in 1920. He belongs to Chisholm Lodge No. 1334.
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and Howard Bennett Post No.
214, American Legion. In politics he is an independent Republican, while
in religion he is a protestant.
On June 29, 1918, Mr. Simons was married to Miss Marian Aubrey,
of West Allis, Wisconsin, who is a member of an old American family.
They have one son, Robert A., who was born March 12, 1920.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1059
Mr. Simons enlisted for service during the World war, and was
enrolled in the Second Officers Camp at Fort Sheridan. Before he had
completed his training, however, his draft number was called, and he was
drafted and sent to Fort Winfield Scott, San Francisco, California, Sec-
ond Provisional Regiment of Coast Artillery. On March 29, 1918, he
was transferred to the Fourth Officers Training Camp, Coast Artillery,
Fortress Monroe, Virginia. He was commissioned a second lieutenant
of Coast Artillery, and July 18 went overseas as a casual, landing in
France. Immediately thereafter he was ordered to Mailly, headquarters
of the American Expeditionary Forces, and not long thereafter was sent
to southern France to school. Returned to Mailly, he was assigned to the
Forty-second Railroad Artillery, which was stationed about twenty-five
miles back from the front, and here he remained until the armistice was
signed. He was sent home, and arrived in the United States February 22,
1919, and was discharged March 11, following.
E. K. Coe, city engineer, has given his professional time and services
to Duluth and environs for nearly thirty years. He is one of the promi-
nent men in his profession in the northwest, and for nearly two years Was
an officer on duty with the American Army both in this country and
abroad.
Major Coe was born April 20, 1868. at Sterling, Illinois, a son of the
late M. L. Coe, who was a native of New York. E. K. Coe is one of five
children and received his early education in the public schools of Sterling.
He acquired his degree in civil engineering after a course in Cornell
College, Iowa. As a young man he was a civil engineer with the Chicago
& Northwestern Railway for one year. He came to Duluth in 1891 and
was at different times associated with the D. M. & N. Railroad, the D. & I.
Railroad and also did engineering work for the city and county govern-
ment. He has made surveys and supervised some of the important con-
struction undertakings around the Duluth Harbor. Following that he
was appointed and served as city engineer two years.
Major Coe was the first commissioned officer called from Duluth at
the beginning of the World war. As an officer he built Camp Lee in
Virginia. In November, 1917, he went overseas to France and there was
engineer in charge of the construction of a line of hospitals. In the early
fall of 1918 he went to front line duty at the headquarters of the first
American Army and had a part in the great battle of the Argonne. After
the armistice he received home orders and returned to America early in
1919. Mr. Coe is a member of the Presbyterian Church and is a Repub-
lican in politics. In 1891 he married Miss Emma Witmer, of Illinois.
They have five children: Douglas W., a lieutenant in the United States
Navy ; Mrs. M. C. Merritt ; Edward Harold, late lieutenant of engineers,
U. S. R. ; Ruth, and Eveleth.
Carl Erich Wickman. Appropriately here is given a brief indi-
vidual sketch of the vice president and manager and one of the founders
and upbuilders of the Mesaba Transportation Company at Hibbing, an
organization whose growth and the development of its facilities for an
extensive transportation service covering a large part of the Iron Range
district are made the subject of a special historical review published
elsewhere in this work.
Carl Erich Wickman is still a young man but is well qualified for his
important business responsibilities through an experience that has brought
him step by step from the ranks of mechanical labor to executive duties
of a high order.
Vol. Ill — 9
1060 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Wickman was born in Sweden, August 7, 1887, where his parents,
Carl Victor and Anna (Martis) Wickman, are still living. There his
boyhood was spent, with an education in the common schools, and at the
age of seventeen he came to the United States. The first year he was in
America he was employed in a sawmill in Arizona. With the exception
of that first year his American career has been identified with Hibbing.
For about six years he worked on a diamond drill under that distinguished
Hibbing engineer, A. P. Silliman. Then with a modest capital and a
knowledge of mechanics in general he opened a tire repair shop at
Hibbing and continued it for about a year, until he sold, and with other
associates started the modest service with a single bus from which has
developed the extensive facilities of the present Mesaba Transportation
Company.
Mr. Wickman married, August 22, 1916, Miss Olga Rodin. Mrs.
Wickman is a native of Hibbing. They have one son, Robert. In politics
Mr. Wickman is aligned with the Republican party, is a member of the
Swedish Lutheran Church, and is a prominent Mason, having attained
the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite, is a member of the Mystic
Shrine, and also belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
William L. Murphy, an ex-service man who was with an organiza-
tion of engineers in France, has been in the Iron Range district and con-
nected with the industrial activities of the Range country for over ten
years and is one of the best known citizens of St. Louis county.
He was born at Chippewa Falls in Chippewa county, Wisconsin, July
3. 1889. His father. Angus Murphy, who was born in Canada, October
15, 1848, came to the United States in 1880, and subsequently naturalized
as a citizen. His occupation was that of a woodsman, and he was a fore-
man for various lumber organizations in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and
continued this line of work practically until his death, October 3, 1910.
He married Margaret M. Gratten, who was born at Quebec, Canada,
June 25, 1863. William L. is the sixth in a family of ten children, seven
of whom are still living.
William L. Murphy attended school at Chippewa Falls, where he was
born, graduated from high school in 1907, and in the same year arrived
at Hibbing, Minnesota. The first work he did here was as machinist's
helper on locomotive repairs with the Oliver Iron Mining Company. A
year later he entered the service of the prominent contracting firm of
Drake & Stratton as shovel fireman, a year later was promoted to crane-
man, and remained with Drake & Stratton in that capacity three years
and another year as craneman with the Shenango Furnace Company and
subsequently two years as steam shovel engineer. In June, 1915, he
entered business for himself as a member of the firm of Cawley & Murphy,
in the dray and transfer business at Chisholm. The following year they
began dealing in fuel and the business steadily prospered until Mr. Mur-
phy sold his interest to his partner in 1918 in order that he might go
into the army.
His service with the colors began July 8, 1918. He was sent to
Camp Dix, New Jersay, attached for training to the One Hundred and
Forty-fourth Engineers, and a month later was transferred to the
Seventy-second Engineers, Company B, at Camp Humphreys, Virginia.
While there he was made duty sergeant and on October 11, 1918, was
with a contingent that sailed overseas, reaching Brest the 20th of Octo-
ber. For one week they remained at that seaport and were then sent to
Angiers, the headquarters of engineers in France. Later Mr. Murphy
was sent on detached duty to St. Nazaire and put in charge of a steam
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1061
shovel during construction of a camp ground, and continued that line of
service for seven and a half' months after the close of the war. On July
1, 1919, he embarked for the United States, reaching New York July
12th, and was mustered out of service July 25th at Camp Grant, Illinois.
On returning to northern Minnesota Mr. Murphy resumed his con-
nection with civil life at Hibbing with the firm of Ryan Brothers, selling
automobiles and tractors. In 1920 he was nominated for the office of
county commissioner of St. Louis County. On December 1, 1920, he
entered the transportation business, which is conducted under the name
of the Chisholm Transportation Company, with offices in Chisholm.
Mr. Murphy is an independent Democrat in politics. He served as
village trustee of Chisholm in 1918. He is affiliated with Chisholm Lodge
No. 1334 of the Elks, with Hibbing Council No. 1649, Knights of Colum-
bus, Chisholm Council No. 1, Order of Owls, and is a member of Post
No. 247 of the American Legion. He and his wife are members of
St. Joseph's Catholic Church. October 29, 1919, Mr. Murphy married
Miss Mary M. Mahon, of New York city.
Alger R. Syme. It is doubtful if any other profession has con-
tributed so many really efficient and competent men to the country as
that of the law, and it is certainly true that its members measure up to
the very highest standards of Americanism. In every community the
attorneys-at-law are always found in the foremost ranks of the men of
affairs, and through them and their public-spirited enterprise are improve-
ments promulgated and carried out to a successful completion. One of
these men who has not only made himself a well-known figure in the
public affairs of St. Louis County, but also attained to distinction in his
profession, is Alger R. Syme, one of the successful lawyers of Chisholm.
Alger R. Syme was born in Ontario, Canada, October 15, 1888, a
son of James H. and Emma E. (Hillier) Syme, and comes of Scotch-
English ancestry. James H. Syme was born at Dunville, Canada, June
12, 1859, and became a patternmaker and is still working at his trade,
His wife was born July 25, 1865, and is still living. They were married
at Windsor, Ontario, Canada, July 21, 1886, and became the parents of
four children, of whom Alger R. is the eldest.
The family came to the United States, and Alger R. Syme received a
grade-school training and then took the high school course at Buffalo,
New York, from which he was graduated in 1908. For the next six
months he was in the law office of Charles Newton of that city. In
order to earn the money necessary to continue his legal studies Mr. Syme
left Buffalo in 1909 and came to Chisholm, Minnesota, and became office
clerk for the Oliver Mining Company, and continued as such until in
October, 1910, he entered the University of Michigan and took the legal
course, and at the same time did some special work in the academic
department. He was graduated in 1913, and admitted to the Michigan
bar that same year. Returning to Chisholm, he was admitted to the bar
of Minnesota in February, 1914. The first few months thereafter he
was with the law firm of Woods & Knapp. and then, June 1. 1914. he
opened an office of his own. During 1914-1915, 1917-1918, 1918-1919
and 1920-1921 he has been attorney for the Independent School District
No. 40, and is the present incumbent. In politics he is an independent
Republican. A Mason, he maintains membership in Hematite Lodge
No. 274, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. Syme also belongs
to Chisholm Lodge No. 179, Knights of Pythias ; Chisholm Lodge No.
1334, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Order of the Eastern
Star and the Kiwanis Club. The Methodist Episcopal Church holds his
1062 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
membership and his hearty support. During the late war he had charge
of the collections for the last Liberty Loan drives and was also chair-
man of the committee for civilian relief of the Red Cross, chairman of
the local War Savings Committee, a member of the Home Guard, and
in every way assisted in the local war activities.
On June 17, 1916, Mr. Syme was married to Miss Helen J. Croman,
of Mount Clemens. Michigan, who comes from an old Revolutionary
family. She received her grade and high-school education at Mount
Clemens, following which she took a two years' course at the Bradley
Polytechnic Institute at Peoria, Illinois, from which she received the
degree of Bachelor of Literature. In 1914 she was graduated from the
University of Michigan with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and subse-
quently taught school, being instructor of Latin and German at the
Howard City, Michigan, High School. Mrs. Syme is a member of the
Iota Chapter of Delta Delta Delta Sorority, and the Eastern Star.
Mr. and Mrs. Syme have three children, namely: Alger R., who was
born August 2, 1918; James J., who was born May 5, 1920: and Jean
Croman, born July 1, 1921. Both Mr. and Mrs. Syme are highly edu-
cated and cultured young people, and they have gathered about them a
congenial circle of friends with whom they are deservedly popular. They
are both much interested in civic matters and zealous in promoting the
welfare of their home city.
'Frank J. Demel, Sr., and his family of able sons and daughters have
for a number of years borne a prominent part in the affairs of the vil-
lage of Buhl. Mr. Demel himself has been in business in the village, has
also participated in public affairs and is now serving as inspector of
meters.
He was born in Bohemia July 12, 1861, son of Frank J. and Mary E.
(Keasler) Demel. His father was a weaver by trade. Frank J. Demel,
Sr., acquired a common school education in his native land, and in
August, 1881, at the age of twenty, accompanied his mother and two
younger brothers to the United States. His mother spent the rest of
her days in this country and died in 1914, at the age of seventy-four.
The family first lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Frank J. Demel
worked in a furniture factory five years, and then took up the trade of
barber and was so employed another five years. In 1892 he removed
to Chicago and for thirteen consecutive years was a barber in one shop
in that city. In 1904 he came to Buhl, not long after the mines were
opened in this district, and for the first year conducted a barber shop.
He then went to work for the Interstate Iron Company as operator of
a "clam shell' which the company was trying out. After a year and a
'half the experiment was abandoned, but Mr. Demel continued in the
service of the company as fireman of a boiler for three years. About
that time he was elected recorder of the village, and was re-elected and
since leaving that office has been meter inspector for the Water and
Light Board.
Mr. Demel is a past dictator of Council No. 1071 of the Loyal Order
of Moose and has twice been a delegate of the local branch to Moose
Heart, Illinois. He is a Democrat in politics and a member of the Catho-
lic Church and received complete naturalization as an American citizen
in Cook County. Illinois, in 1891.
In August. 1887, Mr. Demel married Miss Katherine Doherty. of
Grand Rapids, Michigan, and of Irish ancestry. Their children are
Mary E.. who is the present postmistress of Buhl ; Katherine E., wife
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1063
of H. O. White, of Buhl; Frank J., Jr., Mertyle M. and Donald J.,
twins ; Francis, Leslie, Lorren L. and Russell.
Frank J. Demel, Jr., is one of Buhl's popular younger citizens, and a
man with an interesting army service record. He was born in Chicago
December 23, 1894, attended grade school in that city, and graduated
from the high school at Buhl in 1914. For the following two years he
conducted the local newspaper at Buhl and then was foreman for con-
crete contractors. On April 1, 1918, he enlisted for the aviation service
and was sent for training to the Pennsylvania State College. The avia-
tion service being overcrowded, by his express choice he was transferred
to the engineers, and for three months continued in training, studying
electrical engineering. Then for a short time he was in the American
University at Washington, District of Columbia, following which he was
sent to the Rifle Range at Camp Glenburney, Baltimore, Maryland. In
August, 1918, he went overseas, reaching Liverpool and after a week
was sent across the channel to Havre, and thence to a quiet sector on the
Alsace-Lorraine front. After some further training he was assigned to
duty in the Meuse-Argonne, when the American armies were achieving
such glorious successes in that sector, and he saw some of the fighting
when it was the fiercest. He remained in France and with the Army
of Occupation for some months after the armistice, and reached home
July 3, 1919. On March 15, 1920, he was elected village recorder, and
is still serving in that office at Buhl.
Francis E. House has been a resident of Duluth over twenty years
and is president of the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad Company. Under
the Federal administration of the railroads he was manager of the Duluth,
Missabe & Northern Railroad and of the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad.
Mr. House came to his position as a railroad executive after many years
of hard work in subordinate positions, beginning as a civil engineer, and
assisting in the construction of some of the pioneer lines of railroad in
the west.
He was born November 15, 1855, at Houseville, Lewis County, New
York, son of Henry A. and Mary E. (Goff) House. His father, a native
of New York state, had a common school education and was a business
man of high abilities. For many years he was an active figure in bank-
ing and insurance circles. As a Republican he was interested in national
and local politics, though he never consented to hold office. He was a
member of the Episcopal Church, was a Knight Templar Mason, and at
one time was a state officer in the New York Knight Templars.
The oldest in a family of four boys, Francis E. House was educated
in the common schools, in a preparatory school at Rochester, and studied
engineering and chemistry, though he never graduated, at the Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York. Leaving the Institute at the
age of twenty-two, his first experience was in assaying and mining engi-
neering work in Nevada. His work as a railroad man began in 1880, in
which year he was with a surveying party for the Chicago, Milwaukee
& St. Paul, and did engineering work for other lines of railroads until
1883. In that year he became division roadmaster in the track depart-
ment of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, in 1887 was promoted to
general roadmaster, and in 1890 was made trainmaster on the Kansas
City Division.
Mr. House left this western road in 1891 and returned east, on con-
struction work with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, and in 1892
was made engineer, maintenance of way, for the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie
Railroad and became chief engineer in 1894. Mr. House was made chief
1064 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
engineer of the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad in 1896, and became gen-
eral superintendent in 1897 and general manager in 1901. In the latter
year he took up his residence and duties at Duluth as president of the
Duluth & Iron Range Railroad Company, and during the Federal regime
was Federal manager of that road and also the Duluth, Missabe & North-
ern Railroad.
In his quiet and efficient way Mr. House has participated in several
community projects at Duluth. For about sixteen years he has been
identified with the local Young Men's Christian Association as an official,
most of the time as vice president and member of the Board of Directors
and has been influential in the various campaigns to raise funds and secur-
ing adequate building accommodations. He has been an elder of the
Presbyterian Church since about 1900, is a Republican in politics, and
a member of the Kitchi Gammi Club, Commercial Club, Northland
Country Club and Kitchinadji Club.
Mr. House has an interesting family, all three of his sons having
been with the colors during the World war. He married July 30, 1880,
Miss Minnie Mecracken, of a Pennsylvania family. Six children were
born to their union and the four living are Henry Arthur, Allan Curtis,
Francis E., Jr., and Dorothy. Henry Arthur finished his course in min-
ing engineering at Columbia University, has had some experience in prac-
tical mining and in a small way has been associated with his father in
a western ranch. He served as captain of infantry during the World
war, was overseas, and has received his honorable discharge. The second
son, Allan Curtis, who was on overseas duty as a captain of artillery,
is now engaged in commercial business at Cleveland, Ohio. The young-
est son, Francis E., Jr., now in the advertising business at Cleveland,
was also abroad with the Expeditionary Forces as a first lieutenant in
artillery.
William G. Brown has lived on the Iron Ranges of northern Minne-
sota for more than thirty-six years, nearly all his life, and his work and
experiences have identified him with many of the phases of mining
operations in this district. For a number of years he has been in the
service of the prominent organization of mine owners, Pickands, Mather
& Company of Cleveland, and is now superintendent of the Albany Mine
owned by this corporation in the Hibbing District.
Mr. Brown was born at Quinnesec, Michigan, October 1, 1881. His
father, John C. Brown, was connected with the Quinnesec Mine on the
Menominee Range in Michigan. John C. Brown married Flora St. Marie,
of French ancestry, and in 1884 the family removed to Tower on the
Vermillion Range in northern Minnesota.
William G. Brown was three years of age when the family came to
northern Minnesota, and he grew up in the Soudan community, was edu-
cated there, and as a boy began working in the mines. Later, in order
to supply the deficiencies of his early education, he attended Highland
Park College of Des Moines, Iowa, for one year. After leaving college
he returned and became shipping clerk in the Soudan Mine, also worked
on the Diamond Drill for a time, and in 1899 transferred to the Mesaba
Range, and served as timekeeper of the Genoa Mine at Sparta. In 1901
he became bookkeeper for Pickands, Mather & Company in the Elba
Mine near McKinley. He was soon promoted to chief clerk in the local
offices of Pickands, Mather & Company, and in 1903 was transferred
with these duties to Hibbing, where he continued as chief clerk until
January 1, 1918. Since then Mr. Brown has had the important responsi-
bilities of superintendent of the Albany Mine.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1065
He has always been willing to devote his time and energies to the
welfare of his locality. In 1919 he became treasurer of Stuntz township,
filling that office two years, and in 1919 was elected supervisor of the
town of Stuntz for a term of three years. He is a Republican, a mem-
ber of the Engineers' Club of Northern Minnesota, the Kiwanis Club of
Hibbing, the Commercial Club, and is affiliated with the Elks and the
Knights of Columbus and is a member of the Catholic Church.
April 24, 1905, he married Miss Rosana Viger, of Eveleth, Minne-
sota. They have three children : Aileen Orville, Hamilton Paul and
Virgil Bernardine.
Thomas J. Walsh was one of the makers of history in the develop-
ment of the iron ore district of northern Minnesota. For nearly forty
years he has been a prominent citizen and business man of Duluth, and
is a man of achievement who began life with little education and in a
routine of humble duties.
He was born near Toronto, Canada, October 4, 1867, son of Patrick
W. and Ellen (Fanning) Walsh. His father came from County Tipper-
ary, Ireland, and spent nearly his entire life on a farm near Toronto,
where he died in 1913. He was a cousin of the late Thomas F. Walsh,
one of America's famous and wealthy mine owners. The maternal
grandmother of Thomas J. Walsh was born in Ireland and lived to the
remarkable age of a hundred and fourteen years, having spent a hundred
and eight years in one town in 'Canada.
Thomas J. Walsh, the only survivor of a family of five children,
attended school in Canada to the age of eleven, and in 1880, at the age
of thirteen, came to the United States and found his first employment
as an engine wiper in the shops of the Lansing & Northern Railroad at
Jackson, Michigan. He also packed shingles in a shingle mill, and by
the hardest kind of work and by association with men of all classes he
developed that ready resourcefulness which has been his chief asset in
his mature career. One factor, no doubt, that has contributed to his
success has been his strictly temperate habits. For many years he lived
in surroundings and among men who regarded drinking and other forms
of dissipation as primary social obligations.
Mr. Walsh came to Duluth in 1882, and in June of that year with
two companions was sent out by G. C. Stone & Company over an Indian
trail to explore the Vermillion Lake country. They reached the present
site of Tower five days later, and there did the first development work
on iron ore in the state of Minnesota. The site subsequently became
famous as the Soudan Mine, the oldest iron property in the state.
Mr. Walsh in those early years performed some of the hard physical
labor and endured the hardships of prospecting, and rapidly picked up
a practical knowledge as a miner. Eventually he used a limited capital
of twelve hundred dollars, supplied by himself and one or two asso-
ciates, in developing a timber and iron ore property, and later sold out
for eight thousand dollars, that being the first of his many business
triumphs. Eventually he acquired about seven thousand acres in the
Vermillion district under his individual control, and some of his more
important connections in recent years have been as president and treas-
urer of the North American Iron Mining Company, the Minnesota Steel
& Iron Company, the Consolidated Vermillion & Extension Company, vice
president of the Great Northern Land Company and treasurer of the
Duluth Clay Products Company. One of the iron ore mines which he
was instrumental in developing was sold September 25, 1919, for seven
hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
1066 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Through all these years Mr. Walsh has been one of the public-spirited
citizens of Duluth. During 1892-93 he served as private secretary to the
mayor of the city. His greatest enthusiasm, however, has been his work,
and while he never had the benefit of a college or technical education,
he knows all the fundamentals of economic geology, and has made many
investigations of human antiquities of the north, having acquired one of
the finest collections in existence of specimens of the stone and copper
age and also a large collection of Indian relics.
In 1900, at Tower, Minnesota, Mr. Walsh married Miss Margaret
S. Sullivan, daughter of Henry and Lizzie Sullivan, natives of Michigan.
Her father was a mining' man. Mr. and Mrs. Walsh have three chil-
dren: Margaret Ellen, Frances M. and Edna.
Frank L. Johnson. While his business headquarters as a carpenter
and building contractor for nearly forty years have been in Duluth,
Frank L. Johnson is head of the firm Frank L. Johnson & Son, whose
operations have covered a wide field in the northwest, and have involved
many large building contracts of all kinds.
Mr. Johnson is a master of building detail and learned his business
from the standpoint of a carpenter. He was born in Sweden August 5,
1856, was reared and educated and learned his trade in his native land
and was twenty-three years of age when in 1879 he came alone to
America. For a time he found employment in St. Paul, also worked
for a short time in Denver, Colorado, spent one winter in New Mexico
and then after visiting Pueblo, Colorado, returned to St. Paul and in 1881
came to the city of Duluth, then a town of hardly more than two thou-
sand inhabitants. He at once threw himself into the building resources
of the community, but for eight years continued as a journeyman car-
penter. During that time he was employed on the old courthouse build-
ing. Probably no other man now living has a better knowledge of building
history in Duluth than Mr. Johnson. For twenty-nine years he con-
tinued as a carpenter and contractor either for others or independently,
and then took in his son and since then the firm has been Frank L. John-
son & Son. Their operations have grown and expanded until they cover
a large part of the northwestern country and Canada. Some of the lead-
ing residences of the Zenith City have been constructed by this firm.
Other buildings erected by them are the . Cathedral High School, the
Waldorf Flat and Apartment Building, the Cook & Dillman Building
between Second and Third avenues on Superior street, to mention only
a few of the more notable. They were employed by the Renville Brothers
of Canada to handle some extensive Government contracts in the Province
of Saskatchewan. They were contractors in the erection of college
buildings at Prince Albert, a contract requiring two years to complete.
Mr. A. C. Johnson is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, votes as a Republican, and is a member of the Swedish Lutheran
Church. Mr. F. L. Johnson has five children : Minnie, A. C, E. H., Ruth
and Esther. Both sons were in the World war. A. C, born February
19, 1887, was with Dental Unit No. 2 at Camp Grant. E. H. saw front
line duty in France, was twice wounded, and after the war was returned
to this country and came out of the service from a hospital in St. Paul.
Mathew O. Hall. Although financial independence is almost uni-
versally desired, there are many young men who seemingly make little
effort to secure it when it means protracted industry and considerable
self denial. Had Mathew O. Hall, a well known and popular young busi-
ness man of Buhl, Minnesota, been one of that type, it is quite probable
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1067
that he would not be, as at present, at the head of a large business enter-
prise as proprietor of the Buhl Motor Company.
Mathew O. Hall was born August 30, 1890, at Minneapolis, Minne-
sota, the only child of Olaf O. and Hattie (Erickson) Hall. Olaf O. Hall
was born in Norway in 1862 and resided in his native land until twenty-
two years ago, when he came to the United States, of which he is now a
citizen. In 1888 he was married to Hattie Erickson, who is of Swedish
parentage and was born in 1870, at Grandy, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs.
Hall live at Cambridge, Minnesota, where Mr. Hall is a carpenter and
contractor.
Until sixteen years of age Mathew O. Hall attended the public schools
at Cambridge, in the meanwhile picking up some trade knowledge in his
father's shop, but not enough to qualify as a carpenter. His inclination,
however, has always been in the line of mechanics. After working in a
hardware store for three years he entered the employ of John Norin, who
owned a garage at Cambridge, and during the three years he was with
him learned practical details of automobile management and repair.
Mr. Hall then acquired an automobile of his own and operated it for hire
and at the same time did repair w r ork in a small way for the next two
years, putting up with a great deal of personal inconvenience in order to
get ahead. He then went to Hibbing and worked for six months as a
mechanic in the garage of Christ Osdick, who then sold out to Claud
Brackett, and the latter was very glad to have so careful an expert
mechanic as Mr. Hall had become to remain with him for the next six
months as manager.
In 1915 T. P. Cory, a capitalist, suggested to Mr. Hall that he come to
Buhl and open a garage, or, at first, a reliable automobile repair shop,
promising financial assistance if it became necessary. For six months
Mr. Hall did not feel that he was making much headway, but he perse-
vered and began to also handle automobile supplies of standard quality,
filled a pressing need in this direction, and at length found himself pros-
pering. He now conducts a rapidly increasing business, conducts his
garage under the name of the Buhl Motor Company, handles a full line
of accessories, and has a first class repair shop. His honest work and
general courtesy have brought him patronage and many friends.
Mr. Hall was married December 28, 1918, to Miss Clara Oberg
Anderson, who was born at Negaunee, Michigan, and is of Swedish
parentage. Mr. and Mrs. Hall have two sons: Harold O., who is six
years old; and Stanley M., who is three years old.
In politics Mr. Hall is a Democrat, being somewhat active in village
affairs as a good citizen is apt to be, and has served one term as village
trustee. He belongs to several fraternal organizations at Buhl, these
including the Odd Fellows and the Loyal Order of Moose. With his
family he attends the Baptist Church.
William E. Fay is a mining engineer with headquarters at Chisholm,
but widely known over the Iron Range district of northern Minnesota.
Mr. Fay began work that earned him a living when only twelve years of
age. He w r orked, gained an education, perfected himself in two indus-
tries, and has never permitted an opportunity to pass for improving his
own knowledge and proficiency.
He was born at Tower, Minnesota, June 22, 1891. His father,
Orval Fay, was of Scotch-English ancestry, a native of Michigan, and in
that state was a contractor in the lumber industry. As early as 1888 he
came to northern Minnesota and was engaged in business as a teaming
contractor in and around Tower until his death in 1896. In 1889, at
1068 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Tower, he married Miss Eleanor Hobly, who was born in Germany, near
the Austrian border, February 22, 1870. She came to this country when
twelve years of age and is stilll living.
William E. Fay, oldest of three children, all of whom are living, was
only five years old when his father died, and the family circumstances
were such as to put him into the ranks of wage earners at the earliest
possible age. He attended the common schools of Tower, and at the age
of twelve went to work in a lumber yard in that village piling lumber.
Soon afterward he was made office boy for the Tower Lumber Company.
In a few months he became a lumber straightener, his duties being to place
the lumber in position for the grader. Just a year later he was promoted
to lumber grader. That is one of the responsible positions in the lumber
business, and it was what he started out to achieve when he first entered
a lumber yard. His natural ability and persevering work enabled him
to realize one of his first important ambitions.
In 1909 Mr. Fay left Tower to go to Virginia as a grader with the
Virginia Lumber Company. At the end of two months he had realized
and determined to remedy a deficiency that was a constantly recurring
handicap to his advancement. That deficiency was the lack of a well
rounded education. Giving up his work and using some of his savings,
he spent the winter in the New Era Business College at Superior and
completed the regular six months' course in four months. His next
work was with the Vermillion Iron and Steel Extension property in
charge of cutting roads and building. After about a month and a half
he came to Chisholm in March, 1910, and immediately went to work at
the Clark Mine of the Oliver Iron Mining Company as timekeeper. Four
months later he was promoted to the office in the ore shipping and
grading department, where he remained three and a half months. About
that time he had begun the earnest study of mining engineering, had
enrolled for a course in that study with the International Correspondence
School, and as a means of practical training took a position at a small
salary as an engineer's helper. Withing three months he was doing the
work of an engineer, and he continued with the Oliver Company until
the spring of 1914, when he resigned to associate himself with C. A.
Kimball in the Chisholm Engineering Company. They severed partner-
ship in 1916, after which Mr. Fay practiced mining engineering alone for
a time. During that year with C. A. Remington he took a lease on the
Elizabeth Iron Mine at Chisholm, opened the property and continued
operations until the spring of 1918, when the mine was exhausted. In
July, 1918, Mr. Fay and J. H. McNiven took a lease on the Morrow Iron
Mine, and after having completed the exploration released the property
to the Kingston Mining Company. This company still operates a mine
under Mr. Fay's supervision. In the summer of 1919 he opened a sand
pit, conducting that as a profitable business, and has charge of several
other nearby mines. The sand business was incorporated as the Fay Sand
& Gravel Company, making concrete products. Mr. Fay is a practical
mining man and one of the busy mining engineers of the Range country.
From June 15, 1918, to October 15, 1919, Mr. Fay was acting post-
master at Chisholm, and has always given what time he could to the
promotion of the civic welfare. He was made acting postmaster August
1, 1921. During the World war he was a leader in the Home Guard
organization, also assisted in the Liberty Loan campaign. Politically he
is a Republican, is affiliated with Hematite Lodge No. 274. Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons, and is a member of the Scottish Rite bodies at
Duluth and Hibbing. He is also a member of the Kiwanis Club and he
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1069
and Mrs. Fay are Methodists. One June 23, 1915, he married Miss Delia
G. Bailey at Sioux City, Iowa. She was born in Minnesota May 29, 1891.
They have one son, William E. Jr., born in 1917.
Frank John Nixon has been a resident of Duluth more than thirty
years. In a business way his name is chiefly associated with the building
up of one of the large and important wholesale houses of the city, the
Paine & Nixon Company, of which he is president and treasurer.
Mr. Nixon was born at Fort Scott, Kansas, June 5, 1870, a son of
Samuel and Clara Selina (Matthews) Nixon. His father was born in
the historic locality of Paisley, Scotland, and came to Connecticut when
about fourteen years of age. Later he went to Kansas and still later to
Canada, where for many years he was a manufacturer operating plants in
Three Rivers and Chesterville, Ontario, and on December 1, 1889, took
his family to Duluth, where he is still living, as are his three children.
His wife passed away at Duluth, March 13, 1919.
The oldest of these children, Frank John Nixon, though born in
Kansas, grew up in Canada and acquired a common school education at
Three Rivers. In his early youth he worked for his father as a clerk
and later as a bookkeeper at Chesterville, and for about three years was
employed as timekeeper and billing clerk for the James Smart Manufac-
turing Company at Brockville, Ontario. He was not twenty years of age
when he came to Duluth with his parents at the end of 1889, and soon
afterward was employed as assistant cashier in the retail department of
the well known hardware house of Chapin-Wells, now the Marshall-
Wells Company. Leaving this firm, he became storekeeper with the
Marinette Iron Works for about four years, following which he was
assistant storekeeper and timekeeper at Iron Junction, Minnesota, for the
D. M. & N. Railway for several years. This was followed by a short
period as a bookkeeper, and from 1893 to 1899 he was a salesman for
builders supplies.
Out of this varied experience he acquired the knowledge, the acquaint-
ance and„ the capital that enabled him to organize the Paine & Nixon
Company, a close corporation, which was established in January, 1900,
for the purpose of handling all kinds of builders' supplies, including
glass, paints, brick and specialties. The business has had a most substan-
tial and satisfactory growth and development during the past twenty
years, and the house is one of the prominent ones in the wholesale dis-
trict. The firm uses about twenty-five thousand square feet of floor space
at 310-312 West Michigan street. The trade territory is northern Minne-
sota, North Dakota, northern Wisconsin and northern Michigan. Since
January 1, 1920, the company has confined its lines exclusively as
distributors of glass and paint.
The original officials in 1900 were Asa Paine, president and treasurer ;
P. C. Schmidt, vice president, and F. J. Nixon, secretary and manager.
Mr. Paine died about four years ago and was succeeded by Mr. Nixon as
president and treasurer, the other officers being E. F. Achard, of Ottawa,
Illinois, vice president, and C. S. Nixon, secretary.
Mr. Nixon has other business interests in Duluth and Minnesota. He
is a member of the Commercial Club, Duluth Builders Exchange, Rotary
Club, Duluth Boat Club, United Commercial Travelers, and affiliated
with the Masons, Knights of Pythias and Elks, and is a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Nixon's first wife was Nancy Brown Morrow, of Towanda,
Pennsylvania. The one child of this marriage is Harriet Morrow. Later
1070 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Nixon married Ida Evelyn Callahan Park, who died April 6, 1919.
The one son of this marriage is Frank John, Jr. Mr. Nixon has also
adopted the three sons of his wife by her former marriage, William,
Elmer and James.
Nels L. Johnson. Although Buhl, Minnesota, has not been as long
established as some other towns and villages in Saint Louis County, it is
not deficient in large business houses along almost every line of commer-
cial importance, nor lacking in able, far-seeing business men. One of the
latter is found in Nels L. Johnson, who deals in hardware and electrical
supplies and also owns the "Victory," the leading Cinema house in the
place.
Nels L. Johnson was born March 18, 1874, at Ishpeming, Michigan,
and is a son of Henry and Martha (Larsen) Johnson. Henry Johnson
was born January 16, 1850. in Denmark, where he grew up on a farm.
He came to the United States in 1870 and found work in a charcoal blast
furnace near Ishpeming, and afterward he helped to develop the Lake
Angeline Mine, keeping himself busy at lumbering and mining. In 1872
he married Martha Larsen, who had been a schoolmate in Denmark,
where she was born October 10, 1849. She came to the United States
two years later than Mr. Johnson. Of their family of seven children
Nels L. is the oldest.
Mr. Johnson attended the public schools of Ishpeming until he was
fourteen years of age, then started to work as a trap door tender in the
Lake Angeline Mine, with which property he was identified in different
capacities for some years. Having proved careful and faithful on his
first job, he was advanced eighteen months later to be skip tender, where
he remained for one year, then worked for a year as a carpenter for a
local contractor, at the end of that time returning to the Lake Angeline
Mine, where he served two more years, in the capacity of pipeman
helper. For two years after that he was a "lander," which means one
who sends lumber down into the mine, there being many terms employed
in mine circles that are but so much Greek to outsiders.
Mr. Johnson was ambitious, and while he labored hard every day
at tiresome tasks, many of his evenings and holidays were passed in read-
ing and study, and in this way he completed the International Corre-
spondence School course in electricity. After accomplishing this by no
means easy piece of work, he served for five years as a motorman in the
mine, and his trustworthiness may be inferred from the fact that in 1906
the Jones & Laughlin Mining Company, owners of the Lake Angeline
Mine, sent him to do the electrical work at the opening of the Lincoln
Mine at Virginia, Saint Louis County. He remained there as electrician
for two years, when the company sent him to Buhl as electrician for the
Grant Mine, on the clam shell shovel, where he remained until it shut
down in 1909. About four months before this he had been called to
Hibbing, where he installed the electric hoist and other electrical equip-
ments in the Leetonia Mine.
Mr. Johnson made so excellent an impression on his fellow citizens
at Buhl that they were gratified, irrespective of politics, when he was
appointed postmaster in 1909, in which office he served until 1915. During
this time he had also been engaged in electrical contracting. After retiring
from his Government office he bought out the hardware store of Charles
S. Norton and now carries a full line of hardware together with electrical
supplies. In 1914 he bought a moving picture house, and as indicative of
his generosity and patriotism during the World war donated it to war
uses, particularly the Red Cross. Since the close of the war it has been
known as the Victory Theater.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1071
Mr. Johnson was married August 22, 1896, to Miss Ella Carson, who
is of Irish parentage but was born at Ishpeming, Michigan. They have
seven children: Gladys M., Florence M., Merle, Lawrence C, Eldred R.,
Norma E. and Robert C.
In political sentiment Mr. Johnson is a Republican, and at different
times has been his party's choice for important local offices. For two
years he was clerk of Great Scott township, and at present is a trustee
of Buhl village. He belongs to Hematite Lodge No. 274, Free and
Accepted Masons ; Lodge of Perfection at Hibbing, and Consistory and
Shrine at Duluth. He is a member also of the Order of Modern
Woodmen of America at Buhl ; the Elks at Hibbing, and the Odd Fellows
at Buhl. He has a wide acquaintance over the county, and is held in high
regard by all who know him.
Ralph S. O'Neil. Since he first located at Chisholm, Ralph S.
O'Neil has manifested a keen interest in all that pertains to the better-
ment of this locality. He has served several times as president of the
village and also as village treasurer, and in 1912 was elected a commis-
sioner of St. Louis County and re-elected to that office in 1916. It stands
to Mr. O'Neil's credit that he has done more for the material betterment
of this region, particularly with reference to the roads, than any other one
man. The O'Neil Hotel stands as a specimen of his public-spirit and pride
in his home place, and he operated it himself until 1920. when he leased,
in that connection becoming known all over the state.
Ralph S. O'Neil was born in Jackson County, Wisconsin, September
11, 1868, a son of Louis B. O'Neil, a farmer, born in Ohio, who moved
to Wisconsin. During the war between the North and the South, Louis
O'Neil served in the Union army for there years and eight months, and
died a few years after the close of the war from the effects of the priva-
tions he endured as a soldier. He married Eunice Ammond, and they
had but the one child.
Ralph S. O'Neil was only two years old when his father died, and his
mother died six months later. He was taken by an uncle and brought up at
Black River Falls, Wisconsin, where he acquired the rudiments of an
education while he was growing up. Since the immature age of eleven
years he has had to fight the world on his own responsibility and has come
out a victor in the conflict. His early work was done on farms, and later
he became a lumberjack in the woods. For a few years he kept a hotel
at Iron River, Wisconsin, and then, in 1893, he was attracted to the Range
country and came to Chisholm. Leasing a building then in process of
construction, he opened the O'Neil House, and this hostelry has continued
to be a landmark ever since. In 1907 he secured the present site of the
hotel, but the building then standing was utterly destroyed by the big fire
of a few months later. Although a heavy loser by the fire, Mr. O'Neil at
once erected the present hotel building, which, as before stated, he oper-
ated until he leased the property in 1920 to the regret of the traveling
public as well as his regular guests, all of whom had learned to admire his
able management and generous policies. Mr. O'Neil is a Republican.
He belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights
of Pythias and the Kiwanis Club.
On April 26, 1893, Mr. O'Neil was married to Cora Belle Henderson,
and they have two children : Jean, who is Mrs. Edward Lockhart, and
Arleigh. Mr. O'Neil is one of the best instances this region affords of
the self-made man. All that he has or knows has been acquired through
his own, unaided efforts. Thrown upon the mercies of an unfriendly
world when but a little child, he has gone straight ahead and not only
1072 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
supported himself but gathered together a fair portion of earthly pos-
sessions. At the same time he has won and held the genuine friendship
of men who are worth-while, for he possesses a simplicity and sincerity
which cannot help but make a favorable impression and forge bonds
which nothing but death can sever.
Gust Cronberg. chief of the Buhl Fire Department, is one of the
responsible men of his community, and one in whom the utmost depend-
ence may be placed. He was born in the state of Wermland, Sweden,
May 8, 1869, a son of Andrew Johnson, who was born in Sweden about
1853, and died when fifty-seven years of age. By occupation he was a
farmer and mechanic. His wife was also a native of Sweden, and they
had six children, of whom Gust Cronberg is the youngest.
While he began at the extremely early age of eight years to help his
father, Gust Cronberg was given a public school education at different
intervals. He was so small when he began working in his father's black-
smithing shop that he had to stand on a box to reach the bellows, and he
had a specially small sledge hammer with which he worked at the anvil.
When he was twelve years old he began driving a team of horses into
the woods for his father, and did all kinds of farm work, thus making
himself useful at home until he was nineteen years old. At that time he
came to the United States, joining his brother at Ishpeming, Michigan,
where he remained for a short period. He then went to Negaunee,
Michigan, to work as a carpenter, and for about a year was employed
there building a mine shaft and engine house. Mr. Cronberg then
returned to Ishpeming and worked as a carpenter for Lewis Errickson, a
contractor, until 1893, when he went to Duluth, Minnesota, and for a time
was employed as a helper with the iron workers on the Lake Avenue
Bridge. The subsequent five months were spent with a road crew at
Lester's Park, and he was then employed at carpenter work in West
Duluth for a year. In the following summer he went to Virginia, Minne-
sota, where he worked as a carpenter until soon after the fire in 1895, and
then in June of that year went to Superior, Michigan, to work in the
Listman Flour Mill as packer, rising to be head packer and holding that
position for two of the three years he was with that concern. In June,
1900, when the townsite of Buhl was being cleared, he and John Johnson
obtained possession of a double lot at what is now State street and Jones
avenue, and after they had cleared this of trees Mr. Cronberg went to
Superior and bought a carload of selected lumber and came back with it.
The partners built a one-story structure and opened a grocery store in it
on August 8, 1900. The building has been much enlarged and another
story added, and in 1918 they sold it and their grocery business. In
February, 1919, Mr. Cronberg was appointed chief of the fire department,
and with him in charge of this important branch of the city's service his
fellow citizens feel that their property is safeguarded from loss through
fire as far as lies in human accountability. Mr. Cronberg has been an
active factor in the life of Buhl since its organization, and was elected its
treasurer in 1901, when the town was incorporated, and served through
1903. In 1904 he was elected president of the village, in 1910 was elected
recorder, and the next year was elected to succeed himself in that office.
In 1912 he was elected a trustee, and appointed president by the council
to fill an unexpired term. In 1918 he was again elected a trustee. For
nine successive years he was a member of the School Board, then for one
year was off the board, when he was once more elected to it and served
for three years more. For three years he was a member of the Township
Board of Great Scott, and for two years was on the Library Board. Well
I TH.-DEN FOU
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DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1073
known in Masonry, Chief Cronberg belongs to Hematite Lodge No. 274,
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Chrisholm, and the Consistory at
Hibbing. He also belongs to Hibbing Lodge No. 1022, Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks, Buhl Lodge No. 1071, Loyal Order of Moose,
and Buhl Camp, Modern Woodmen of America. He is a Republican and
a leader in his party. The Lutheran Church holds his membership. Dur-
ing the great war he was active in the Liberty Loan drives, and belonged
to the Home Guards.
In 1895 Mr. Cronberg was married to Miss Anna Peterson, born in
Sweden, but at the time of her marriage a resident of Superior. She is
now deceased, having borne her husband the following children : Grace L.,
Elmer G., Clifford A., Leonard E., and Ernie E., all of whom are living
except Elmer, who died at the age of seventeen years. On January 25,
1915, Mr. Cronberg was married to Miss Marie Wadd, who was born in
Norway and was brought to this country when she was eight years old.
Mr. and Mrs. Cronberg have three children, Ernest, and twins, who were
born August 16, 1920.
John E. Samuelson. To a great extent the prosperity of our great
country is due to the honest industry, the sturdy perseverance and the
wise economy that has so prominently characterized the foreign element
that has entered so largely into our population. By comparison with
their "old country" surroundings they readily recognize the fact that in
America lie the greatest opportunities for the man of ambition and energy.
And because of this many break the ties of home and native land and
enter earnestly upon the task of gaining in the new world a home and a
competence. Among this class should be mentioned the late John E.
Samuelson, who was one of the leaders of the Duluth bar, and by reason
of years of indefatigable labor and honest effort not only acquired a well-
merited prosperity and success in his profession, but also richly earned
the highest esteem of all with whom he was associated. The death of this
prominent attorney and business man occurred on the 23rd of February,
1921.
John E. Samuelson was born July 12, 1869, in Christiania, Norway,
and came to this country with his stepmother in 1881, at the age of twelve
years. From the age of seven years until coming to this country he had
been practically thrown upon his own resource, and thus early learned the
great lessons of industry and economy. He first located at Eau Claire,
Wisconsin, where he attended the public schools. A year after his
arrival here he began to work, and from that time on he made his own
way. During his early years here he was variously employed, working in
a restaurant, then in a meat market in Eau Claire, in a grocery store, in a
saw-mill, in a planing mill, in the woods and on the log drive, and in the
meantime he was carrying out as best he could his cherished plan in
securing an education. Leaving the river, he went to work again in a
grocery store, and from there went into a law office in 1890. There he
studied law and shorthand, and in 1895 was admitted to the bar of
Wisconsin. He then entered the law department of the University of
Minnesota, where in due time he was graduated with the degree of
Bachelor of Law. Immediately thereafter he returned to Eau Claire and
engaged in the active practice of law, remaining there until 1898, when he
moved to St. Paul and entered into a law partnership with Humphrey
Barton. In 1902 Mr. Samuelson became connected with the claim depart-
ment of the Great Western Railroad, but afterward became private secre-
tary to Justice Edwin A. Jaggard, of the Minnesota Supreme Court, with
whom he remained for two years. He then went to International Falls,
1074 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
where he practiced his profession for one year, and at the end of that time
hecame court reporter for Judge Stanton in the Eighteenth Judicial
District for one year. He then became associated with William E. Culkin
in the practice of law at Duluth, being engaged in a general practice from
1909 until July, 1915, when he was appointed assistant city attorney under
Henry F. Greene, and upon the death of Mr. Greene in December, 1915,
was appointed city attorney, in which position he was serving at the time
of his death.
Politically Mr. Samuelson was an earnest supporter of the Republican
party. Fraternally he was a member of Duluth Lodge No. 133, Benevo-
lent and Protective Order of Elks, of which he was a past exalted ruler,
and in that order he received distinctive preferment, having served as
president of the State Elks Association. He was also a member of the
Sons of Norway. He was one of the directors of the League of Minne-
sota Municipalities and was also a member of the Charter Commission of
the city of Duluth.
On November 23, 1898, at Minneapolis, Minnesota, Mr. Samuelson
was married to Margaret E. Young, the daughter of John Young, at that
time living in Montrose. Minnesota. Both of Mrs. Samuelson's parents
are natives of Ireland. Her father came to this country in 1849, and first
located in New York, but in 1852 came to Minnesota, settling on a home-
stead near Montrose. He became a man of considerable local prominence
and influence, serving in minor offices in Wright County and three terms
as treasurer of that county. He is still living at the advanced age of
ninety-one years. Of the four children born to him and his wife, Mrs.
Samuelson is the youngest. She received a good public school education
and then attended the University of Minnesota, where she was graduated
with the class of 1896. She is a woman of strong force of character,
though with marked domestic traits, and during the World war activities
she performed very effective work in the various drives for the raising
of funds for the Red Cross and other objects. To Mr. and Mrs.
Samuelson were born two children, one of whom died in infancy, the sur-
vivor being Irene, who was born on the 9th day of July, 1903, and is now
a student in the Duluth High School.
In addition to his creditable career in one of the most exacting of pro-
fessions Mr. Samuelson also proved an honorable member of the body
politic, and was essentially a man among men. He grew to manhood
surrounded by those conditions which tend to develop industry, integrity
and frugality. How well he retained these lessons of his early training
was shown by his later life. He enjoyed a large acquaintance among the
people. Being public spirited and identified with the common interests in
various capacities and by proving himself competent and trustworthy he
became one of the leading citizens of our community. In all his dealings
with his fellowmen, whether of a public or private nature, he always rec-
ognized the fact that the rights and privileges of others were of equal
importance with his own, and governed himself accordingly, because of
which he enjoyed the confidence and good will of the entire community.
John McDowell, superintendent of the Morris. Burt, Sellers, Pool,
Philbin and Winnifred Mines of the Oliver Iron Mining Company, has
been identified with the iron ore operations on the Mesaba Range for as
long a period perhaps as any man still in the active service. He came
here about the time the village of Hibbing was located, and his work has
made him one of the invaluable men in the great organization of the Oliver
Iron Mining Company.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1075
Mr. McDowell was born in Ontonagon County, Michigan, December
27, 1861, son of James and Jane (Johnston) McDowell. His mother was
born in Canada and his fsther came from Ireland at the age of fifteen
with his grandmother. James McDowell spent his active career as a
machinist in the copper region of Ontonagon and other counties of
northern Michigan.
John McDowell was one of a large family of thirteen children, nine
of whom are still living. He had to be satisfied with a common school
education acquired in his native state, and since the age of fifteen has been
doing for himself, and has achieved his wide range of knowledge and
expert skill largely by practical contact with life. The first regular work
he did was "tending jigs" in a copper mine. He had a tendency toward
mechanical lines, and for seven or eight years was employed as a machinist
in the shops of the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company at Ishpeming,
Michigan.
Mr. McDowell came to the Mesaba Range in 1892. His first service
rendered here was as master mechanic for the Minnesota Iron Company
at the Canton Mine at Biwabik. Leaving that employment in 1896 he
moved to Hibbing, where he was master mechanic for the Sellers Ore
Company, later in a similar capacity for the Lake Superior Consolidated
Company, then became foreman in the Burt Pit and superintendent of
the Morris Mine. With the expansion of the Oliver - Iron Mining Com-
pany's interests his own range of duties and reponsibilities were increased
until he became superintendent of the various mines noted at the begin-
ning of this article. These offices in themselves are an evidence of his
efficiency.
Mr. McDowell has also been identified in a public spirited way with
municipal and other developments in the village of Hibbing. He is a
Republican, is affiliated with the Scottish Rite Masonic bodies and the
Mystic Shrine, and is one of the real men of affairs in the Range country.
' August 10, 1884. Mr. McDowell married Margaret Daley, of Eagle
River, Michigan. Their four children are: Russell J., William Melville,
Llewellyn J. and Helen. The oldest son, Russell, is superintendent of the
washing plant at the Hill-Annex Mine of the Interstate Mining Company.
Llewellyn performed his share of patriotic duty during the World war
in the United States Navy, at first as a wireless operator and later in the
electrical department. For a time he was on duty on the New Jersey
and later on the Dolphin, patrolling in the South Seas.
Alphonse L. Bergeron, inspector of public buildings at Chisholm, is
one of the best known men of St. Louis County, and a dependable and
efficient official of wide and varied experience. He was born in Quebec,
Canada, December 18, 1860, a son of Modest Bergeron, also born in
Quebec, of French ancestry, although the family was established in
Canada 300 years ago. By occupation he was a farmer. The mother
of Alphonse L. Bergeron was Victoire Drehcher before her marriage, and
she, too, came of French ancestry. Of the ten children in the family,
Alphonse L. Bergeron was the sixth in order of birth.
When he was eleven years old he began doing farm work in the
summer, while in the winters he continued his studies in the common
schools, and he kept this up until he was twenty years old. At that time
he came to the United States, arriving here March 4, 1881, and locating
at Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he found employment in the mills, and
he also worked at the carpenter trade. He was employed at Saint Paul
and Stillwater, Minnesota, keeping in these localities for about seven
years. In 1888 he went to Tower, Minnesota, and continued to work as a
Vol. Ill — 10
1076 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
carpenter until 1894, and then went to Rainy Lake prospecting for gold.
After spending fourteen months in this search he located at Eveleth,
Minnesota, and carried on contracting and building until 1901, which
year saw his advent in Chisholm. Here he continued his contracting and
building business until the fall of 1919, when he was appointed inspector
of public buildings. Mr. Bergeron built the first bank at Chisholm, the
Miners State Bank, and a number of other business blocks and private
residences. During 1919 he served as village trustee, and has been
re-elected for another term of three years. Since 1913 he has been on
the School Board, and he organized the fire department, of which he was
the first chief, which office he held until the early part of 1908. In the
spring of 1909 he was re-appointed fire chief and served until 1910, when
the department was placed on a full time paid basis. In 1894 Mr.
Bergeron was naturalized, and since then has given the Democratic party
his support. Fraternally he belongs to Chisholm Lodge No. 1334, Benev-
olent and Protective Order of Elks, Loyal Order of Moose No. 226 of
Chisholm ; Chisholm Aerie No. 462, F. O. E. ; Chisholm Camp, Modern
Woodmen of America, and the Knights and Ladies of Security. He is a
Catholic.
During the late war Mr. Bergeron was a member of a sub-committee
to solicit for the Liberty Loans, and rendered valuable service in that
respect, as well as contributing very liberally on his personal account to
all of the drives.
In September, 1896, Mr. Bergeron was married to Miss Alma Graton,
of New York state, whose ancestry is French, but dates back in American
to a period prior to the Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Bergeron have two
children, Alice V. and Arthur L. Mr. Bergeron is one of the leading
citizens of Chisholm, and has done much to advance its interests and
develop its natural resources. His long connection with the building
trade makes him particularly well fitted to discharge his present duties,
and the people of the region have made an excellent selection in placing
him in charge of their public buildings.
E. W. R. Butcher. The office of biography is not to give voice to
a man's modest estimate of himself and his accomplishments, but rather
to leave upon the record the verdict establishing his character by the con-
sensus of opinion on the part of his fellow citizens. In touching upon
the life history of the subject of this sketch the writer aims to avoid
fulsome encomium and extravagant praise ; yet he desires to hold up for
consideration those facts which have shown the distinction of a true,
useful and honorable life — a life characterized by perseverance, energy
and well-defined purpose. To do this will be but to reiterate the dictum
pronounced upon the man by the people who have known him long
and well.
E. W. R. Butcher, who holds the responsible position of chief engi-
neer at the Northern Ore Mines for the Republic Iron and Steel Com-
pany, was born in Troy, New York, July 25, 1885, and is the fourth in
order of birth of the five children who were born to his parents. His
father, James Butcher, was a native of England and came to the United
States about 1870 and located in New York state. Later he removed to
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and engaged in the hotel business, in which
business he is still successfully employed. E. W. R. Butcher received his
educational training in the public schools of Pittsburgh, also attending
the Pittsburgh Academy. He completed his studies in Western Uni-
versity, now called the University of Pittsburgh, where he was gradu-
ated with the class of 1906, with the degree of Mining Engineer. Soon
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1077
afterward he went to Nevada and engaged in engineering work for
about a year in the Bull Frog and Tonapah field. Following this he went
to Nicaraugua, Central America, where he served for about nine months
as a mining engineer in the gold fields. From there he went to California,
where for a time he was engaged in engineering work for one of the
large hydro-electric companies operating there. His next employment
was with the Westinghouse Electric Manufacturing Company at Pitts-
burgh as a draftsman, remaining with that company until August 23,
1909, when he entered the employ of the Republic Iron and Steel Com-
pany, being appointed chief engineer of their Northern Ore Mines at
Duluth in 1918, which position he still fills. Thoroughly qualified for his
work by both training and experience, Mr. Butcher has performed his
duties in this connection with an ability and success that has won for
him the approval of the officials of his company and the admiration of
his fellows. He has been a director on two committees of the Duluth
Engineers' Club and a member of the American Institute of Mining
Engineers. He possesses to a marked degree those sterling traits of
character which command public confidence and regard, and he also
belongs to that class of representative men of affairs who promote the
public welfare while advancing individual success.
William I. Prince, for many years a banker in Duluth, had the
distinction of serving as first mayor of the city under the commission
form of government, and during the past two or three years has served
as secretary of the Commercial Club of Duluth, supplying the place and
service of younger men who went to war.
Mr. Prince was born at Camden, Ohio, October 11, 1867, son of
George C. and Lucy A. (Hill) Prince. He is of old New England
ancestry. His first American ancestor, Daniel Prince, was born in Eng-
land about 1655 and came to the Colonies as a soldier in the British army,
and after his discharge remained in New England, where he died in 1728.
His grandson, Abel, was born in Connecticut in 1763 and lived out his
life in that state. William Prince, grandfather of William I. Prince; was
born in Connecticut in 1791 and died in 1842, having spent his active
life as a merchant, for many years near Buffalo, New York. George C.
Prince was born in Erie County, New York, December 10, 1830, and
after the death of his father came with his widowed mother to Ohio,
where he spent most of his life and where he died at the age of eighty-
seven in the college city of Oberlin. He began his career with a limited
education as a farmer, but laid the foundation of a substantial fortune
as a sawmill and lumber man, at one time operating half a dozen mills.
He was also identified with banking and finally retired. He was a
Republican, interested in the welfare of his community, and held some
township and village offices and was also entrusted with the manage-
ment of estates. He was a member of the Congregational Church. He
married Lucy A. Hill in 1861, and their six children are all living, William
I. being the second.
William I. Prince attended public schools, the Oberlin Business Col-
lege, and spent several terms in Oberlin College. Though reared in a
good home of well-to-do parents, he showed his initiative and began
earning money when about fourteen years of age, working out on farms
during the summer seasons both for his father and other farmers. He
received much valuable business training during two years as an employe
of the Oberlin postoffice, and in 1889 began his banking career as clerk
and collector in the Citizens National Bank of Oberlin, where he remained
six months.
1078 DULUTH AND ST. LOUTS COUNTY
For the past thirty years his activities have identified him with north-
ern Michigan and northern Minnesota. Leaving Ohio, he became book-
keeper in the First National Bank of Escanaba, where he remained two
years, for ten years was cashier of the First National Bank of Bessemer,
Michigan, and was then elected president of that institution, an office he
still occupies. While a resident of Bessemer he served three successive
terms as mayor.
Mr. Prince came to Duluth in December, 1902, and, associated with
others, organized the City National Bank, becoming its cashier and a
director, offices he occupied nine years, when he sold his interests. About
that time he was the choice of the citizens as the first mayor under the
commission charter and ably administered the municipal government four
years. When America entered the war the secretary and assistant secre-
tary of the Duluth Commercial Club went into the army, and Mr. Prince
was drafted for the duties of secretary, an office he still holds. He was
president of the Commercial Club in 1909.
Other important business interests are as a director in the Gogebic
Powder Company, Brotherton Iron Mining Company, Sunday Lake Iron
Mining Company, vice president of the Midland Trust & Savings Bank
of St. Paul, and president of the Otsego Land Corporation. He is a
member of the Duluth Boat Club, the Congregational Church, and is a
Republican voter, but his only public office in Duluth has been that of
mayor.
October 7, 1897, at Waupaca, Wisconsin, he married Mary A. Bald-
win, whose people came from New Hampshire and New York state.
They are the parents of four sons : George B.. Gerald C, W. I. Prince,
Jr., and Milton H. The oldest son was born November 12, 1898.
J. O. Lenning. With the enormous prestige of Duluth as a distribut-
ing and wholesale center for the northwestern country the wholesale
grocery house of Gowan-Lenning-Brown Company has been intimately
and vitally connected for many years. The present great company, with
its model plant in close proximity to the unrivalled rail and water trans-
portation facilities, is the result of consolidation of two older organi-
zations.
The older of the constituent houses in the Gowan-Lenning-Brown
Company was the Wright-Clarkson Mercantile Company, three of whose
members are part of the modern organization, W. S. Brown, president,
R. H. Redman, treasurer, and J. O. Lenning. vice president and general
manager. The other factor in the combination was the Gowan-Peyton-
Twohy Company, which on the death of Andrew Gowan, a prominent
lumberman, who was succeeded by Chester A. Congdon as president,
became the Gowan-Peyton-Cohgdon Company. These two companies
were consolidated in 1913 and at that time additional warehouses were
acquired for the increased stocks, and in the past seven years immense
strides have been made in the manufacturing end of the business. The
new and modern building occupies a site of 320 by 260 feet, the main
portion being four stories in height.
J. O. Lenning is a business man of wide and varied experience, and
well qualified for his responsibilities in the Gowan-Lenning-Brown Com-
pany. He was born in Lee County, Illinois, August 22, 1859. a son of
O. O. and Christie (Maakstad) Lenning. His father, a native of Nor-
wav. brought his wife and oldest child to America during the '50s and
became an Illinois farmer in Lee County, but in 1883 removed to Iowa
and lived on a farm in that state until his death.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1079
J. O. Lenning, the second oldest of four children, acquired his educa-
tion in the public schools of Illinois, attended Mt. Morris Academy in
that state, and subsequently the Bryant & Stratton Business College of
Chicago. At the age of seventeen he was buying grain and subsequently
was manager for a co-operative company. Leaving those business asso-
ciates, he entered a commercial college at Chicago, and had a varied
metropolitan employment in that city.
In the spring of 1882, then a young man of twenty-three, Mr. Lenning
went to Hamilton County, Iowa, near the town of Radcliffe, to improve
and develop a farm previously purchased by his father. That was a
year of strenuous labor in the preparation of a home and other improve-
ments for the family. At the end of this year he located at Ellsworth,
Iowa, where he engaged in the real estate business and for a time con-
ducted the postoffice in connection. Later the real estate business
expanded as a bank, known as the State Bank of Ellsworth, of which he
was cashier. In 1889 Mr. Lenning entered upon his duties as county
treasurer of Hamilton County, Iowa, and served four years. In 1894
he became assistant chief clerk of the Lower House of the Iowa State
Legislature, and following that was cashier of the Hamilton County State
Bank at Webster City, Iowa. His duties with that institution continued
until he came to Minnesota. During his management this bank increased
its deposits from a hundred thousand to a million dollars.
Leaving Iowa, Mr. Lenning on coming to Minnesota engaged in the
wholesale grocery business at Crookston as president of the Lenning-
Brown-Wright Company. With the sale of his interests he removed to
Duluth in 1906 and became vice president and general manager of the
Wright-Clarkson Mercantile Company, mentioned above, and subse-
quently was an influential factor in the consolidation of 1913 as described.
Mr. Lenning is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and
Shriner and is a past high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter and past
commander of the Knights Templars. He has always been a strong
Republican in politics. He married Miss Carrie Cragwick, of Norwegian
parentage. Six children were born to their marriage and four are still
living.
A. J. Robillard, though little past thirty years of age, is a veteran
in experience on the mechanical side of automobile construction and
operation, and is proprietor of the well-known R. & R. Garage at 315-
317 East Superior street. This garage is a Willard storage battery serv-
ice station, is the authorized local agency in Duluth for the Detroit Elec-
tric and Milburn Electric cars, and the service conducted by Mr. Robillard
has achieved a widely appreciated reputation over Duluth for the specially
fine quality of electrical work done there.
Mr. Robillard was born in Minneapolis November 1, 1888, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Emidy J. Robillard, natives of Canada. His father came
to this country at the age of twenty-one and is now living in Montana,
at the age of sixty-two.
Third in a family of five children, A. J. Robillard acquired his early
education in the schools of Minneapolis, came to Duluth at the age of
fourteen, and for three years attended school. His practical business
experience has been nearly altogether in mechanical lines. For one year
he worked in the Rein Boiler Shop, for a year and a half was employed
by Mr. E. J. Filiatrault as a mechanic, then worked for Mr. Russell two
years, and in 1910 started in business for himself. His associate was
Ed Romoieaux, and they established the R. & R. Garage. Mr. Romoieaux
withdrew in 1911 and since then Mr. Robillard has been in business
1080 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
alone. He continued in business at his first location until 1912, and since
then has been at 315-317 East Superior street. He sells and maintains
the Willard storage battery service for gasoline and electric cars, and
has built up and transacted a large volume of business in Duluth as a
dealer in both the Detroit and Millburn electric cars. He covers a large
section of territory for the Willard Battery Service, including a mail
order business.
Mr. Robillard is an expert in nearly all phases of automobile opera-
tion and particularly in electrical installation. He has invented a certain
type of electric door which has stood the test of hard usage in his own
garage and office. He has also assembled an electrical truck made out
of old cars that had been scrapped, and that truck is a big labor saver
and permits Mr. Robillard to give increased service to his customers. He
has also patented an automatic cutout used by the electric car owners
which effects a considerable saving in worry and money in electricity.
Mr. Robillard is a member of the Duluth Automobile Association,
belongs to the Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club, the Boy Scouts' Association,
also one of the clubs in the West End and is a member of the Elks
Lodge and the Cathedral Church. On June 24, 1913, he married in
West Duluth Albertina Gilson, who was reared and educated in this city.
They have one son, Arthur Dale Robillard, born February 12, 1919.
Albert E. Bickford has served for more than a score of years as
city clerk of Virginia, and no citizen has taken more vital and earnest
interest in the development and progress of this fine little municipality
of the great Mesaba Range. He arrived in this section of Minnesota on
the 9th of February, 1893, when the site of the present thriving little
city of Virginia was marked only by a railway station, eight or ten
saloons, a hotel, a meat market, two grocery stores and two boarding
houses. The barren and desolate little mining town offered few attrac-
tions to any person save one of vision, and Mr. Bickford in here estab-
lishing his home as a pioneer had faith and prescience in regard to the
future. He has been closely associated with the development and upbuild-
ing of the city and the surrounding districts, and the years have fully
justified his confidence in the obscure mining town of the earlier days.
Upon his arrival in Virginia Mr. Bickford proceeded to find quarters
in which to install the equipment which he had obtained from two old
printing offices and which he brought into requisition in establishing, for
Hand & Hannaford, the newspaper now known as the Virginia Enter-
prise. He continued as foreman of this pioneer paper until 1900, save
for the year 1897, during which he published the Hibbing News at
Hibbing, this county. He made the paper a potent force in furthering
the civic and material development and advancement of the community,
and has long been a popular leader in community sentiment and action.
After having three times been elected clerk of the village of Virginia he
became the first incumbent of the office after the village was incor-
porated as a city in 1900, and thus his service has been consecutive for
a period of twenty-two years. In the village days he was able to carry
the official records in his pocket, but since 1906 he has found it necessary
to give his undivided time and attention to the handling of the large
volume of official duties that devolve upon him. Mr. Bickford met with
virtually total loss of all his possessions in the two disastrous fires that
have visited Virginia, but his loyalty and faith never faltered and he
has taken pride in the splendid progress that has been made by his home
city. Here he is now the only resident member of the old volunteer fire
department, the existence of which terminated in 1908, upon the estab-
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1081
lishing of the present paid department. He has been for several years
secretary of the Virginia Commercial Club, of which he is a charter mem-
ber, as is he also of the local Kiwanis Club ; of Virginia Lodge No. 1003,
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks ; Northern Light Lodge No. 127,
Knights of Pythias ; Virginia Aerie No. 107, Fraternal Order of Eagles ;
Iron Range Lodge No. 1117, Loyal Order of Moose; and Virginia Camp
No. 2955, Modern Woodmen of America. In politics Mr. Bickford is a
stalwart advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and he has
been active and influential in its local councils and campaign work. At
the time of the nation's participation in the World war he was a vigorous
worker in the furtherance of the various Governmental loan drives in
this section of the state, and had charge of the local drive for the second
Liberty Loan as did he also of the alien registration. He was a first
sergeant in the Minnesota Motor Corps, and he has a complete record of
every man who enlisted from District No. 4 (Virginia), from the time
of induction into the service until the present.
Mr. Bickford has made a careful and exhaustive study of city man-
agement and municipal government, and is a firm advocate of centralized
control for a city as well as for a private business enterprise. He has
-maintained a careful and punctilious supervision of the fiscal affairs of
Virginia, and by his counsel in behalf of wise economy in appropriations
and the general administration of city affairs he has done much to place
Virginia upon its present stable and effective financial basis.
Mr. Bickford was born at Stanwood, Michigan, on the 23d day of
August, 1876, and is a son of Edward E. and Mary (Collins) Bickford,
the former of whom was born at Augusta, Maine, August 4, 1856, and
the latter was born at St. Louis, Ohio, in 1856. The father was for many
years actively identified with the lumbering industry in Michigan, and he
is now deceased, his widow being a loved member of the home circle of
her son Albert E. of this s'ketch. With the exception of three years
passed in the public schools of Minneapolis Albert E. Bickford has gained
his education entirely through self-discipline and active association with
the practical affairs of life. He was long connected with newspaper work,
and this association has been consistently termed the equivalent of a lib-
eral education. When but five years old he was a vociferous and inde-
pendent newsboy and bootblack in the city of Minneapolis, and at the
age of thirteen years he assumed the dignified office of printer's devil in
the office of the Gogebic Iron Record at Ironwood, Michigan, he having
there gained his knowledge of the printing business and his association
with this paper having continued until he came to Virginia. Mr. Bickford
is one of the best-known and most popular citizens of the Virginia
community.
Richard Hodge as a boy in Cornwall began mining work in the
famous tin mines of southwestern England, but for more than a third
of a century has been a practical and expert mine worker in the mining
district of Michigan and northern Minnesota, and for many years past
has been connected with the Shenango Furnace Company's Mines at
Chisholm. He is now a superintendent of the Shenango Mine there.
He was born in Cornwall, England, September 18, 1865. His father,
Charles Hodge, had come to this country in 1862, and for two years was
employed as a miner in Ogden County, Minnesota. He determined fully
to realize his ambition to become an American citizen and returned to
England for the purpose of bringing his wife to America. He was
unable to persuade her to leave her native country, and eventually he
gave up his cherished hope of coming to America and lived in England
1082 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
and followed the mining business until his death in 1895, at the age of
sixty-five. He had married Ellen Hicks, also of Cornwall, in 1856.
Richard Hodge was the sixth in a family of nine children, and six of
them are still living. Nearly all his education was acquired in the school
of practical experience. He was ten and a half years of age when he
first went to work in a tin mine "on the floors." A few months later he
was "broken in" to practical mining operations as his father's partner,
working two thousand feet under ground. He went through that working
apprenticeship for two years, then served in a similar capacity with
another man, and by the time he was fifteen he was a fully qualified
miner and for the next five years had his own partner.
In 1886. when about twenty years of age, Mr. Hodge took passage on
the steamship Oregon and on the 13th of February of that year landed
at New York Harbor. Ths first mining place to attract him was Ishpem-
ing, Michigan, where for three years he was employed as a miner at the
old Lake Angeline Mine. Leaving there, he and four companions made a
trip as far west as Butte, Montana, and put in much of their time study-
ing the varying methods of mining, and information he acquired during
that investigation has always been of great value to him. After an
absence of six months he returned to the Lake Angeline Mine, and
remained there until he had completed a veteran's service of about
twelve years.
He left there at the direction and as a result of the personal selection
by Captain Walters, then general manager for the Jones-Laughlin Mining
Company, as the concern was known in Michigan, though in Minnesota
it is the Interstate Mining Company. Captain Walters employed Mr.
Hodge to come to the Mesaba Range, where for three years he was shift
boss. Capt. Henry Tallen, mining captain of the Shenango Mine, then
induced him to enter the service of that company, and the first three years
he was shift boss, was then promoted to captain in 1908, and the follow-
ing year was made general mining captain, an office and title he held for
about three years. Since September, 1911, he has been general superin-
tendent of this mine, one of the largest and most important in the
Chisholm district.
Mr. Hodge acquired American citizenship as soon as practicable after
coming to this country and as a voter has been identified with the Repub-
lican party. He is affiliated with the Masonic Order in Hematite Lodge
No. 274, is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and
belongs to Sir Humphrey Davey Lodge No. 244 of the Sons of St.
George.
July 11. 1891. he married Miss Gertrude Hamburg. She was born in
Norway July 12. 1871, and was a child when brought to this country. To
their marriage were born the following children : Ellen Johanna, Freda
Charlotta, Frederick Charles, two daughters each named Lillian Elsie,
the first having died at the age of eighteen months, and Richard.
The son Frederick is an ex-service man, having enlisted at Duluth
March 4, 1917, at the age of twenty. He was sent to Corpus Christi,
Texas, for training with the Fifth Engineers, and accompanied that
organization overseas to France in August. 1917, landing at Brest, and
was gradually moved to front line operations. He was on active duty for
sixty-six days. After the armistice was signed he returned to the United
States on board the vessel George Washington at the same time as the
Presidential party of Mr. Wilson.
Archibald W. Graham, M. D. Medical science in the twentieth
century has reached great heights, and the natural question may arise,
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1083
why is this true? A comprehensive enough answer, however, would
require much space in the telling, and, after all, it may be sufficiently
summed up in the statement that twentieth century physicians are largely
responsible. To gain eminence in the medical profession today a physi-
cian must be an inexhaustive student, a daring experimenter and an
assured scientist. Not every earnest student of medicine finds time or
opportunity for such profound studies, but his trend is in that direction,
and it is usually found that the best informed man in any community on
every subject will be the general medical practitioner. Attention may thus
be called to Dr. Archibald W. Graham, who is prominent professionally
and a foremost citizen of Chisholm, Minnesota, with a practice that
extends to other points.
Doctor Graham was born October 10, 1879, at Fayetteville, North
Carolina, and is a son of Alexander and Kate (Sloan) Graham. Both
parents were born in North Carolina and both are of Scotch-Irish extrac-
tion. They were married in 1877, and Doctor Graham is the second of
their family of nine children. His father is still active as a lawyer
although in his seventy-sixth year, the family home still continuing to be
in Columbus County. Archibald W. Graham attended school at Charlotte
and was graduated from the high school in 1897. He secured his medical
education in the University of North Carolina and the University of
Maryland, being graduated from the former institution in 1901, with the
degree of Bachelor of Arts, and from the latter in 1905, with the degree
of Doctor of Medicine. During his senior year in the medical school of
the University of Maryland he was demonstrator of anatomy.
During 1906 Doctor Graham did post graduate work in pathology in
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and spent the three succeeding
years as an interne in the New York Post Graduate, the Lying-in, the
Willard Parker and Columbus Hospitals. In 1909 he came to Chisholm
and was associated here with Rood Hospital until 1916, since when he has
carried on a general practice, spending two months of each year in post
graduate work, specializing in the New York hospitals in the eye, ear,
nose and throat, his patients in Chisholm being benefited by his observa-
tion and experience.
Doctor Graham is an enthusiast on out-door sports and gives a measure
of credit for his athletic build and uniform sound health to the good for-
tune that in boyhood and youth he was a ball player, in which he made a
somewhat notable reputation. While attending medical college he played
on the baseball and football teams, and during the summers of 1905 and
1906 played professional baseball, being outfielder on the New York
National League team. After coming to St. Louis County he served one
year as health officer at Chisholm.
Doctor Graham was married September 29, 1915, to Miss Alicia
Madden, who was born at Rochester, Minnesota, and is of Scotch-Irish
ancestry. Dr. and Mrs. Graham are members of the Presbyterian
Church. In his political attitude he is a Democrat, and fraternally is a
Mason, belonging to Hematite Lodge No. 274, Free and Accepted
Masons, at Chisholm.
Edward P. Towne. No member of the Duluth bar occupies a higher
position in the estimation of the people than does Edward P. Towne,
attorney. During his years of practice here he has built up a large
clientele and is regarded as an exceedingly safe counselor in all matters
pertaining to legal questions. It speaks well for any man who may have
the confidence of the people to such an extent that he is regarded as
specially adapted to the settlement of estates and matters of equity. His
1084 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
services are likewise in large demand where the drawing of intricate
papers is involved, especially incorporation affairs, and he enjoys not only
the respect and confidence of his professional brethren, but the good will
of all with whom he has had dealings.
Edward P. Towne was born June 16, 1867, at Canandaigua, New
York, and is the youngest of the four children born to the union of
Edward P. and Eliza H. (Eddy) Towne. On the paternal side the ances-
tral line runs back to Scottish origin. Mr. Towne's father was a lawyer
by profession, following that vocation in Chicago, Illinois, from the time
of being admitted to the bar until his death in 1867, at the early age of
thirty-three years. Edward P. Towne received his elementary education
in the public schools of Troy. New York, later attending the Mohegan
Lake Military Academy at Peekskill. New York, and Union College at
Schenectady, New York, where he was graduated in 1888, with the
degree of Bachelor of Arts ; his alma mater conferred on him the degree
of Master of Arts in 1891. He graduated from the Albany Law School
in 1890, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and immediately there-
after went to Chicago, where for about two years he was managing clerk
for John P. Wilson. In 1892 Mr. Towne came to Duluth and engaged
in the practice of law, in which he has been engaged here continuously
since, his practice consisting principally of real estate, probate and cor-
poration law. As a lawyer, he evinces a familiarity with legal principles
and a ready perception of facts, together with the ability to apply the one
to the other, which has won him the reputation of a sound and safe prac-
titioner, and by a straightforward, honorable course he has built up a
large and lucrative legal business, being financially successful beyond the
average of his calling.
Politically Mr. Towne gives his support to the Republican party.
From 1898 to 1902 he rendered effective service as a member of the
Health Board of the city of Duluth. From 1900 to 1902 he was on the
staff of Governor Van Sant, with the rank of colonel, and subsequently
he became a first lieutenant and adjutant, captain and major of the Third
Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guards. In religious faith he is a
Presbyterian. On November 7, 1900, Mr. Towne was married to Rachel
Moon, and they are the parents of three children, one son and two
daughters. Because of his professional success and his splendid personal
character Mr. Towne is held in the highest esteem throughout his
community.
Thorwald B. Hamre. Northern Minnesota offers some of the most
unsurpassed opportunities to the alert and capable business men to be
found in the country, and because of this men of superior caliber have
been attracted to this region. Coming here thoroughly imbued with a
determination to wrest a fortune from the forces of nature, they have
been rewarded for their efforts way beyond their original expectations,
although to some of them success has come along other lines than those
first entered. Thorwald B. Hamre is one of the men of Hibbing who has
found prosperity in the Mesaba Range country, and is now conducting
one of the leading mercantile establishments of this region, and is con-
nected with a number of other important enterprises.
Mr. Hamre came into the world in a far-away land, for he was born
in Norway, December 30, 1879. He is a son of T. T. Hamre, who was a
farmer. Losing his wife when Thorwald B. Hamre was very small,
T. T. Hamre, with his four children, emigrated to the United States in
1883, having been induced to make the long and venturesome journey by
his brother, then living in the southern part of Minnesota. Upon his
THORWALD B. HAM RE
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1085
arrival in the state T. T. Hamre bought 160 acres of land in Lyon County
and began to farm. On this farm he spent the remainder of his life,
dying in 1901, five years after he had taken out his naturalization papers.
It was on the farm in Lyon County, Minnesota, that T. B. Hamre was
reared, and he attended the neighboring schools. After the death of his
father he remained on this farm, conducting it on his own responsibility
for a time, but left it for Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he worked in a
bakery for some months, a part of his duties being the delivery of bread.
The winter he was twenty-one he went into the woods near Sandstone,
Wisconsin, where he started to work as a lumberjack, but his experience
at this was very brief. Mr. Hamre then spent a few months in a lumber
camp at Ramsey, Michigan. Following this experience he returned to
Minneapolis and resumed work delivering bread. As the summer season
advanced he went to Cottonwood, Minnesota, and worked as a harvest
hand, and from there went on to Duluth. In 1902, after a short period
spent in a lumber camp, he came to the Mesaba Range and was employed
for a short period by the Bailey Lumbering Company near Virginia.
Subsequently he looked after an engine on the Great Northern Railroad,
and from there he traveled to Buhl and there cut wood for a time, until
he secured a job piling timber at the Grant Mine. His next position was
firing a boiler for a stationary engine, and later he operated a hoisting
engine for the Interstate Mining Company.
Returning to his old home, he spent two years in farming and operat-
ing a pool hall, but then returned to Buhl and resumed work with the
Interstate Mining Company. For the next few months Mr. Hamre was
engaged at various kinds of work, having toward the last charge of a
night shift operating the electrical department. He then came to Carson
Lake, Minnesota, and helped to install the electric plant of the Leetonia
Mine, and upon its completion became foreman of its operation. While
he was thus engaged he with Earl Bracegirdle started a small store at
Carson Lake. Some two years later Mr. Bracegirdle was made post-
master, and the postofhce was kept in the store, and this attracted addi-
tional trade, and the business flourished. Having decided to study medi-
cine, Mr. Bracegirdle wanted to attend medical college, and so sold his
interest to Mr. Hamre, who also assumed the duties of postmaster. He
added to the original building, greatly increased his stock, added all kinds
of merchandise and a meat market, and prospered greatly, but did not
continue to be postmaster after President Wilson was elected. Mr. Hamre
is still engaged in operating this large establishment, and his trade shows
a healthy increase with each year. He is also a director of the Security
State Bank of Hibbing and the Hibbing State Bank at South Hibbing, is
a stockholder in the Chisholm State Bank, the Buhl State Bank, the
Mountain Iron State Bank and the Keewatin State Bank.
One June 23, 1917, Mr. Hamre was married to Geraldine Guthrie, of
Blooming Prairie, and they have one daughter, Mary Helene. Mr.
Hamre is a Republican, but not very active in politics. He is a thirty-
second degree and Shriner Mason. He also belongs to the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks and the Algonquin Club of Hibbing. Mr.
Hamre had one idea in view during the many years he worked for others
and that was to secure a business of his own. With that object in view
he worked and saved. His beginning was a modest one, and good man-
agement was required at first to keep things going, but it was not long
before the way was clear, and after that he had no trouble in expanding.
It is his firm belief that if a man is willing to work and save almost any-
thing is possible, especially in this glorious Mesaba Range country. To
1086 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
him it is the finest location in the world and he is vitally interested in its
further development, and has the utmost faith in an expansion of all
interests upon a much larger scale than has heretofore been made.
Alfred Merritt. (Autobiography. Duluth, Minnesota, January 1,
1917.) My father came to the Head of the Lakes on the sidewheel steamer
North Star on the 3rd day of July, 1855, this being her first trip through
the locks at Sault Ste. Marie. She came through what is now known as
the Superior Entry, between Minnesota Point and Boland's Point, the lat-
ter now being called Wisconsin Point. He came to erect a saw mill to be
built on Conner's Point for Newell S. Ryder.
The Indian Treaty had been made in the fall of 1854 at La Point,
ceding practically all of the northeastern part of Minnesota to the Govern-
ment. My father took a squatter right on. a piece of land, which after
the survey was made proved to be a part of what is now West Duluth.
The survey was made during the winter of 1856. After making the
squatter claim he had to have his family come up the lake to hold the land.
Mother was living at Austinburg, Ashtabula County, Ohio, at which place
there was an Institute where my four older brothers had attended school.
Mother packed the household goods and shipped them to Superior,
Wisconsin, care of the Hanna, Garrison Company, by way of Cleveland,
Ohio. She took us five younger boys and started for the Head of Lake
Superior. Brother Lucien, one of the three older brothers, started before
us to drive our old black cow to Cleveland so that we could take her up
on the boat with us.
When we got to Cleveland we found that we had missed the boat, and
we then had to wait eight days for the Propeller Manhattan. Capt.
Lyman Spaulding was master, the first mate, I do not remember his name,
and the second mate they called Big Mouth Charley. My brother Lucien
walked back to Austinburg to school before we left on the boat.
We five boys kept mother pretty busy, I guess, looking after us.
Leondias and I being the oldest, walked over the whole city of Cleveland
and Ohft) City, the latter being really a part of Cleveland, but separated
in 1856. I well remember Perry's monument and the parks. The (city
was small then.
It must have been about the 18th of October that we took the boat for
that far off land, away up in Minnesota. I remember mother's friends
saying to her, "What are you going away up to Lake Superior for?
Why you will freeze to death up there." We had a fine trip all the way
through Lake Erie, through the St. Clair river, past Detroit, and on
through Lake Huron. Well do I remember how beautiful it was all the
way up the St. Mary's river. I recall that we took on a lot of wood at
Rosebury Island, and then more at Whiskey Bay. above the canal. The
Indians were camped all along the St. Mary's river, and at the falls they
were spearing whitefish, which for us was a wonderful sight. After we
left Whitefish Point we boys wanted to see a storm. In about four hours
we had all that we wanted, but the storm did not stop, and all of us were
very sick, with the exception of mother. I recall that we made port at
Grand Island, Marquette. Copper Harbor, Eagle Harbor, Ontonagon and
La Point. Bayfield and Ashland were not in existence at that time.
We passed through the Old Superior Entry into Superior Bay about
2 o'clock P. M. on the 28th day of October, 1856. I wish that you could
have seen how beautiful the Head of the Lakes looked at that time. It
was practically in a state of nature. The Indians were there with their
wigwams scattered up and down Minnesota and Wisconsin Points, with
the smoke curling from the top of the wigwams, and their canoes skim-
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1087
ming along the waters of the bay or hauled upon the shore. Fish and game
were in abundance. Tall pines and hard wood trees were growing on the
hill sides and down to the water's edge, and with the leaves of the hard-
wood trees turned as they were in the fall, what a beautiful sight it was.
I have many times wished that I had a picture as it looked then, or a gift
of language to describe the beauty of the Head of the Lakes as I saw it
as a boy nine years old.
My brother Napoleon was at George R. Stuntz's dock at the end of
Minnesota Point, and when we passed the dock he jumped in the old
Mackinaw boat and rowed over to Old Quebec Pier at Superior. The
steamer had to go up the bay nearly two miles before she could turn to
come to the dock, that being the channel at that time, so my brother beat
us to the dock. On landing we met father and Mr. Edwin F. Ely and the
Rev. James Peet, and you can well imagine how glad we were to see
father and my brother Napoleon. Mother and my three youngest brothers
stayed that night at Mr. Peet's house and also Mr. Ely's house. They
lived at that time at what was called Middle Town at Superior. We all
got in the Mackinaw boat and rowed up to Mr. Ely's house and all landed
there except a man by the name of McCoy, and my brothers. Napoleon
and Leondias, and myself. We rowed on up to old Oneota, and I recall
my legs were too short to reach the bottom of the boat. We landed on the
shore between what is now Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth avenues. West,
at the foot of the old saw mill log slide. I now own that particular
ground.
On landing there the first man that I remember of seeing was Edwin
H. Hall, the next were John G. Rakowsky and Andrew Reefer. Mr.
Hall was dressed in a red shirt with a white bosom, a red sash, broad
cloth pants and fine boots. He was a regular frontier dandy.
The house in which we lived was built on Block 29, Oneota. There
was just a small clearing of perhaps one-half acre, and all the rest was
covered with pine trees clear up and down the bay. There was only one
place on the side hill where one could climb up to see over the trees and
look into Wisconsin and up and down the river, and out over the four
points, Rices, Conners, Minnesota and Wisconsin, into Lake Superior.
Even at what is now known as the Point of Rocks one could not see out.
Mr. Ely had cut a trail through the pine woods to a rock bluff that was
called the Mountain Sight, where you could look right down Forty-sixth
avenue. West. From this bluff one had a fine view of the whole countrv
at the Head of the Lake. The view from there looking over the tops of
the trees from this place at that time could never be forgotten. It is
fixed in my memory and often I close my eyes and let the old scenes pass
once more. The autumns especially were beautiful, with the turning of
the leaves over on the South Range, which was covered with hardwoods
and evergreens trees, no axe having marred nature at that time, there
being hardly a tree cut from Minnesota Point to Fond-du-Lac.
As a boy I knew every man and woman on this side of the State Line.
In Minnesota along the bay front, at the end of Minnesota Point, besides
the lighthouse there were eleven houses and sheds in addition to Stuntz's
Dock and Warehouse. R. H. Barrett was in charge of the lighthouse,
and I remember that a man by the name of Fargo lived in one of the
houses. Then as you went to the base of the point there was not a house
until you got nearly to where the canal now is. There were fifteen build-
ings, mostly small dwelling houses, and one old up and down saw mill
which had been run a little and which had been built by George Nettleton.
On the main shore at the foot of Minnesota Point, east and west, but
almost to the east of the Point, there were twelve houses, including Sidney
1088 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Luce's house and dock. As you went west there was one claim shanty
owned by F. A. Buckingham on the west side of the creek by the same
name. East of Chester creek there were only two houses, both of them
claim shanties. At Tischer's, now Congdon's, there was one house. There
was no road up or down the North shore of Lake Superior or St. Louis
Bay or the river to Fond-du-Lac, nothing but Indian trails.
As you came west, at the foot of Rice's Point, on the rock west of
Garfield avenue where the firehall stands, was the Ellis House. On the
foot of the point was North Albert Posey's house. A short way from the
end of the point just north of the Northern Pacific bridge was a two-story
log house built by Sueiss Rice, after whom the point was named. He was
a brother of Senator Rice of Minnesota.
When you left Rice's Point to the west there was one house at Coffey's
creek, owned by L. B. Coffey, a brother of General Coffey, the Confed-
erate. There was on the west side, up the stream, another claim shanty
owned by R. P. Miller. To the north of Coffey's place John Rakowsky had
a claim. A man by the name of Burk had a claim shanty just west of
Miller's creek. There the rocks came out to the bay and made a lee on
either side of this point of rocks, so that when the wind was from the
northeast or southwest you could lay with your small boat or canoe in
perfect safety. I am sure that this is the landmark chosen by Chief
Buffalo at the Indian Treaty at La Point in the fall of 1854 as the starting
point, the line to run one mile north, one mile east, one mile south, and
one mile west back to the point of starting. This would have taken in
the old burial ground at the foot of Rice's Point. They had this large
burial ground there, as the Indians are more particular than the white
people about these things. The Treaty was tampered with, unquestion-
ably, by interested parties. In fact when this land was looked up, accord-
ing to the Treaty papers, it was found to be located six miles out in Lake
Superior. This, however, was rectified to some extent, and when Chief
Buffalo died, his son-in-law, Ben Armstrong, fell heir to Chief Buffalo's
interest, and he sold this in trust to W. L. Spalding, then of Ontonagon,
Michigan, later of Duluth. and the Spalding House stands on some of
this land now.
The next claim shanty was built by Patrick Conner, an old Hudson
Bay Company employee, and it was built at a place just east of the Mesaba
Ore Dock. We called it Conner's Slough. This man, Patrick Conner,
came out to Hudson's Bav from the North of Ireland and entered the
employment of the fur company when he was nineteen years old, as a
clerk. I remember his telling my brother Leondias and myself in 1856
that he wintered on Rice's Point fifty-four years before that time. He
was a well posted man. His wife was a Chippewa squaw and they had a
family of two boys and one girl. One of his boys was named Patrick,
the other Peter, and the daughter was named Elizabeth.
The next house belonged to Fred Lemargie, and was located west of
where the ore docks are now, at about Thirty-eighth avenue, west and
south of the Northern Pacific tracks. This piece of land was held by
Michael S. Bright's father as a trading post.
We now come to the old townsite of Oneota, which was taken as a
townsite under the old townsite law. This land was located right after
the treaty of La Point, in the fall of 1854. Ryan H. Bacon had a squat-
ter's right and McCracken another squatter's right to the west of Bacon's.
Edmund F. Ely bought their rights and with some St. Paul men and
eastern men, also, started the town. Mr. H. W. Wheeler was one of
them. There were only twenty-four houses there in 1860.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1089
The first public school on the north shore of Lake Superior was held
in the winter of 1856. The teacher was paid by the parents in proportion
to the number of pupils sent. I was one of the scholars, and four of us
boys went to the first school, five of Mr. Ely's, two of Mr. Wheeler's and
also Christian Hoffenbacker, now of Eagle Harbor. Michigan. Only
five are now alive in 1915. My brother Jerome was our teacher, and he
was a very able teacher, as many of his pupils all over the States will
testify.
As I have already stated, the number of houses on the old Oneota
townsite was twenty-four, this including buildings of all kinds, the houses
were almost all on Oneota street and between Thirty-ninth avenue, West,
and Forty-seventh avenue, West. The old saw mill stood on the bay front
between Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth avenue, West. During the year
1857 there was built at Forty-second avenue, W'est. a frame school house,
and this was the first frame building built in northwestern Minnesota for
a school house. At Fond-du-Lac, now western Duluth, there was a mis-
sion school held for a while, but this was the first District school between
Sunrise, Minnesota, and Grand Portage on the north shore of Lake
Superior.
After you left Oneota going west you came to Hayes' clearing and
then to Freeman Keene's clearing on Keene's creek. The next was
Milford, where there was a saw mill and four houses. The next was
Crosier's point, owned by Aron Crosuer and wife. Kingbury lived next,
on land which is now a part of Fairmount Park. He built a saw
mill on his land, but while the mill was fully completed it was never run.
Next came Nolton's place, then Marshall's place, and adjoining this was
Permonkey's place. The place now called Swenson's place at Spirit Lake
was originally taken by John Little-john. Peter Carroll had a place at
the entrance of Spirit Lake. A man by the name of John Langley had a
claim west of Carroll. Tommy Hayes owned what we called Sebasta-
pool, which is right where the Spirit Lake branch of the Boat Club and
Morgan Park are now. Peter Gerno owned what is now the John Smith
place, now a part of New Duluth and the steel plant. John La Gard
lived just in front of John Smith's old place on an island.
The next place was Sargent's house, on what we called Sargent Lake,
just west of Sargent's creek. Andrew Reefer had a claim to the east of
Fond-du-Lac, about one mile.
At Fond-du-Lac there were fourteen buildings all told. A warehouse
stood near the river which was built by John Jacob Astor of the North-
west Fur Company. It was in good shape in 1856, and Captain Peterson
used it for a barn for many years.
There lived at that time at Fond-du-Lac, R. B. Carlton and wife and
one son, Webb Carlton. Carlton County and also Carlton Park on the
north shore of Lake Superior were named after R. B. Carlton. He was
called Colonel Carlton. Mr. Rausau and family, George Wheeler's family
and Mr. Peterson and family were there then. This place was the head of
navigation, and the traders going north and west took the Old Portage
trail for Knife Falls, a nine-mile portage and a long one, I can assure you
of that, for I have traveled it with a one hundred and twenty pound pack.
In the foregoing I have only named the residences of those who lived
on the bay front or river front. All told, including Minnesota Point, and
on the north shore from Lester river to Fond-du-Lac, there was a total of
101 buildings. My authority for this is the coast survey map made by
George R. Meade in 1860 and 1861.
The claims taken back of the water front were practically all aban-
doned in 1857 and 1858. These years were very hard for every settler,
1090 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
and as many as could got out and left for the east. I want to speak of
the general honesty of the pioneers of this northwest by telling you what
Captain Ben Sweet of the Steamer North Star said of them when times
were so hard and no one had any money. The Captain took down over
seven hundred passengers and took their notes in payment of their trans-
portation. Of these all paid their notes with one exception, and the Cap-
tain said this one man had the money in his pocket when he came aboard,
but said he did not have any. When one considers that these seven hun-
dred people scattered all over the New England States, and then in every
case with that one exception paid their notes, it is a remarkable testi-
monial to the rugged honesty of the early pioneers.
In those early days we were all neighbors, from Bezve Bay down the
north shore to Fond-du-Lac, and over into Superior, Wisconsin. One
cannot write about just one side of the State line, for in sickness and in
joy there was no State line. Many times were father and mother called
upon to help in times of sickness and suffering. In times of sickness she
was called upon, for all recognized in her a natural born nurse. However,
she never attended a case without a doctor, if one was to be had. Of all
people I have nothing but the kindliest recollections.
All the old pioneers who came to the Head of the Lakes as men and
women grown, were a splendid type of manhood and womanhood. We
shall never see their like again, but few are now alive. Among them are
Mrs. R. G. Coburn, R. N. McLean, Col. Hiram Hayes of Superior, and
N. B. Merritt of Duluth, the only ones who were over twenty-one in
1856 who are now alive. As I am writing this I have just heard of the
death of Ted Wakelin. He passed away last Monday. So they go, one
by one, over the Great Divide.
Up to the time of the Civil War there was little excitement to disturb
the monotony of the struggle for existence. Lumbering in the winter,
working in the saw mill in the summer, and farming, fishing and sailing,
were the occupations by which we made a livelihood. Quite a number of
the young men went into the army. Among the number were Dorus
Martin, Rufus Jefferson. F. A. Buckingham, Freeman Keene, Leondias
Merritt, U. S. Bailey, Andrew Reefer, John Rakowsky, Samuel McQuade.
George Shurbrooke, Gal Shurbrooke, John Falk, Julius Gorgon, Col. J. B.
Culver and Robert Emmit Jefferson. John Falk was killed in the Battle
of the Wilderness and George Shurbrooke was killed at Vicksburg.
Robert Emmit Jefferson built the first frame hotel at the Head of the
Lake. It is now standing on Lake avenue, on the north side of the canal,
and is at present called the Foster House.
It was an anxious time during the war. In the fall of 1862 the Indian
outbreak took place, and for a time we were afraid the Chippewas, who
were the Indians at the Head of the Lakes, would join the Sioux, but
fortunately for us they refused to join.
In the winter of 1865 and 1866 there was gold excitement at Ver-
milion Lake. A road was cut out to the supposed gold fields, and a great
number of men and teams went over the road. My father, Lewis H.
Merritt, made the trip, and while going out eighty teams passed in one
day on their way in. Father was not boomed on the gold fields, but while
he was out there, North Albert Posey, who was the Indian blacksmith,
showed father a chunk of iron ore, and father told us boys that some dav
there would be great mines there, worth more than all the gold of Cali-
fornia. These words perhaps influenced us in later years to discover
the Mesaba Range.
I remember one trip I made with Fred Lamagrie during the winter
of 1866 and 1867. We had horse trains and hauled stuff for the Indian
traders. Our load was for Peter Bradshaw & Co.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1091
During the winter of 1867 and 1868 the survey of the Lake Superior
and Mississippi was being made from Carlton to Duluth. The line came
along the Dalles to Fond-du-Lac, and then along the present line to
Duluth. Leondias Merritt and myself were chainmen on this survey, a
man by the name of McKensy was engineer and Matt Haug, Dan Watter-
man and John Bertrand were axemen. One of Mr. Bertrand's sons was
picket man. The snow was very deep and we were camped out for about
two months. The road was finished in the summer of 1870. This was
the first railroad to the Head of the Lakes.
The winter of 1867 and 1868 there was quite a lot of lumbering done
getting ready for the railroad. People commenced to flock to the Head of
the Lakes, and during that summer my brother and myself had a sail scow
on the bay and carried lumber to Duluth, and railroad supplies up the
bay for contractors.
The winter of 1869 and 1870 we built along with Henry S. Ely the
first sailing vessel built at the Head of the Lakes. She measured 49 gross
tons, and was schooner rigged. We sailed her that summer and lost her
the next season at Ontonagon, Michigan, on the 27th of August, 1871.
I often think of the help that Mr. Willard of Ontonagon gave me in trying
to save the schooner, and when she proved a total loss he told me not to
give up but do something and not let the loss discourage me. He said
to me, "I have lost all two different times, and am now up the third time."
His advice gave me courage, and the next winter we got a logging contract
and made enough to pay our debts.
I have forgotten to say that the first tug at the Head of the Lakes was
the tug Agate. She was here the summer of 1868. I was pilot, and Capt.
Martin Wheeler was engineer. We towed scows across to the Govern-
ment piers at the Superior Entry, carrying stone. The piers were just
being commenced then. In the fall we took her back to Ontonagon, as she
belong to Willard and Merser.
We did anything to make a living during 1872 and 1873. During the
summer of 1873 I built a road on Isle Royale from Siskiwit Bay to the
Island Mine, a distance of three and one-half miles. I took men from
Duluth on the Steamer Metropolis, of which Capt. Bart Atkins was pilot.
We left there in the fall in a small boat with ten others just before Thanks-
giving and rowed to Duluth. Among the party were Thomas Sandilands.
Andrus R. Merritt, George Hill, and a Mr. Peterson. We had a very
hard trip up the lake, and it is a hard trip in an open boat in the winter
time.
In 1874 five of us went back to Isle Royale in the small boat. We
finished up the road this time and then went to work for the North Amer-
ican Exploration Company, of which Capt. Samuel Hill was the agent.
We were cutting trails and digging pits on different parts of the Island.
The failure of Jay Cooke & Co. and the panic that followed made very
hard times and every one had to struggle to live. I cut wood and deliv-
ered it on Stone's Dock at Duluth for $2.00 per cord. We also cut cedar
poles and ties or anything else. Many of the people moved away from
Duluth because of the hard times.
We built another boat, a scow schooner, of only 29 tons burden. We
traded down the north shore, and went as far the Copper Country of
Michigan. Times were very hard. We worked in the woods in the win-
ter cutting cord wood and logs. During the summer of 1878 Thomas
Sandilands and myself bought the tug John Martin. We kept her three
years and then sold her to Tim Daugherty. We then took to exploring
in the summer and logging in the winter.
Vol. Ill— 11
1092 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
M. B. Harrison and W. K. Rogers ran a survey for a railroad line
from Duluth to Winnipeg, Manitoba. The line was located to the Lake
of the Woods. My brother Cassius was head explorer. Mr. Banks was
head engineer, and C. H. Martz and his brother were on the engineering
corps. My brother ran the exploring line from the mouth of Sturgeon
River around the south side of the lake, and then on to Winnipeg. In
locating this line through Township 53. North of Range 18 West, in
Section 5. just on the height of land, on the divide of the waters, my
brother saw a boulder of iron ore and brought in a piece to Duluth. This
was the first chunk of pure ore taken off the Mesaba Range. This was in
the year of 1887. Explorations were not started on the Mesaba Range for
some time after.
The State of Minnesota held in trust for the schools a lot of land
which we believed to be mineral land. Having worked for the State as
explorers estimating timber, we were well acquainted with State Auditor
Braden, and my brother Leondias and myself told him what we believed
to be true about the value of some of these lands to the school children of
Minnesota. Auditor Braden thereupon had a bill prepared and the Legis-
lature passed it. preserving these lands to the school fund. Auditor Braden
appointed a committee of three to say what price should be paid as a
royalty on ore on lands leased by the State. This committee consisted of
Leondias Merritt. George C. Stone and myself. There was great pressure
brought to bear to place a royalty of ten cents per ton. They wanted
it placed at fifteen cents, then at twenty. However, we decided unani-
mously that we would recommend twenty-five cents per gross ton, at which
price it now stands. I believe that Auditor Braden was perfectly honest
in his efforts to protect the school lands of the State of Minnesota, and
also the other state auditors up to this time. What a splendid fund this
will be for all time to the school children of this Great State. It has
always given me great satisfaction to think that I had a humble part in
preserving to them this fund.
The year 1889 the first work was done on what is now the Mountain
Iron Mine. I took a crew of six men in by the way of Tower on March
17th. Started from Tower with three dog trains, and we were the dogs.
We went in by the way of Pike River and then to Rice Lake, then to
Mountain Iron.
We dug test_pits and finally drilled. All was done on S^ of S^
of Section 34. Township 59, north of Range 18 west. We found that we
were too far north for ore, and on going south found the ore on Section 4,
directly south of our first work, the summer of 1890.
Xo one who has not actually gone through the hardships and the dis-
couragements of keeping a camp going out so far from the base of sup-
plies can realize what one has to contend with. The raising of the money
alone was no small job. and worst of all the task of endeavoring to keep
up the courage of one's partners.
After the ore was found we had to look for transportation, we went
to the Northern Pacific Railroad and also to the St. Paul and Duluth
Railroad, they being separate at that time. Neither would do anything.
their officials did not realize the value of the Mesaba Range and of the
great traffic which was to originate from the many mines. We hardly
knew what to do. We were almost discouraged, finally we got hold of
the Duluth & Winnipeg Railroad, and they said if we would build down
to Stony Brook they would make a traffic contract with us. We scratched
around and built a line from Mountain Iron to Stony Brook, a distance
of forty-five miles, with a branch off our line from the station called Iron
Junction to Biwabik. a distance of sixteen miles. This line was com-
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1093
pleted in 1892. The year of 1893 we built into Duluth, because the Duluth
& Winnipeg Railroad did not furnish the number of ore cars they had
agreed to when we made the traffic contract with them. Our road, the
Duluth, Missabe & Northern, built in the winter of 1891 and 1892 a total
of 750 cars. The next year we built 750 more ore cars. The Duluth
and Winnipeg railroad did not build any. St. Louis County offered us
$250,000 worth of bonds if we would build into Duluth. We accepted
this offer and built into Duluth, and also built into Hibbing from our
main line from Wolf Station. After the line was finished to Duluth and
the ore docks completed, I, as president of the road, went and got the
bonds from the county. I made at that time a verbal agreement with the
County Commissioners and the County Auditor that if the county would
let the Duluth, Missabe & Northern Railroad have the county bonds with-
out giving up an equal amount of stock in the railroad, that the railroad
would pay her taxes to the county the same as an individual. This would
have paid back to the county the amount of the bonds and interest in less
than twenty years. On the 4th of February, 1894, I had passed by the
Board of Directors and stockholders of the Duluth, Missabe & Northern
Railroad a resolution, ratifying and confirming all of my contracts, both
written and oral, the intent of this was to cover this oral contract I had
made with the County Commissioners of St. Louis County at the time
the bonds were delivered to us, and also other oral contracts which I had
made in my capacity as president of the road.
Our loyalty to Duluth was the main reason for our building into
Duluth. It proved to be a poor move for us, because in order to get
the money we got mixed up with John D. Rockefeller and his gang, and
in the end we lost all our interest in the road and mines. I, myself,
owned one-tenth of the Duluth, Missabe & Northern Railroad besides
120 one thousand dollar bonds of the railroad, and also all my interest
in the mines. It was all stolen. My interest in the Lake Superior Con-
solidated Iron Mines Company, which controlled the railroad and the
different mining companies, was turned into the steel company when it
was formed at $7,500,000. The dividends on my share of the railroad
stock alone has been over $800,000 several different years. The courts
said that it was a fraud, I say it was a plain steal.
Naturally one will ask how did he do it. It was simply a case of our
having confidence in him. We were working away for the interests of
the company, getting traffic contracts, fully trusting him, we woke up too
late.
The loss of my interest in this great enterprise was not what stunned
me, however, it was the loss of my brother Cassius Clay Merritt, worse
than murdered in cold blood. He was treasurer of the Duluth, Missabe
& Northern Railroad during the years of 1893, and the trouble and
worry and disappointments due to the delays in getting money from the
east that had been promised us by them broke his heart, and he died
early in the spring of 1894, loved and respected by everyone at the Head
of the Lakes, as well as over the entire state, where we were well known,
I often think that the Mesaba was not worth the price.
After reading over what I have written a few things run through my
mind which would show great changes as to the ease of getting around.
In the fall of 1862 my father moved Mr. Edmund F. Ely's family from
Oneota, now a part of Duluth, to St. Paul. He was gone four weeks
on the round trip. In the summer of 1863 I drove a yoke of oxen from
Superior, Wisconsin, to St. Paul. Mr. E. G. Swanstrom drove another
yoke of oxen with me. We moved a family over from Oneota by the
name of Gronowold. It took us thirty days for the round trip. From
1094 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
what is now 45th avenue west there was no road at all. We drove the
oxen without their yoke singly, over a trail down to Rice's Point. It
was then covered with Norway pine and white birch, and blueberry bushes
were in abundance. At the end of the point we drove them into the water,
and swam them in the water over to Conner's Point. We then had to
walk them down the beach two miles before we could get a road. The
household goods of the Gronowold family were taken over in an open
scow.
On the end of Conner's Point there was a mound perfectly round,
fully forty feet high, at least high enough so that from the top you would
look over the tops of the trees. To the south it was covered with small
Norway pine and hazel brush, I always thought that it was an Indian
mound, as it was so perfect. It was standing in good shape in 1865.
After that the wind and waves washed it away. In summer and in
winter the sands of which it was made blew off on the ice until it was
all gone. There were two islands in the Duluth, Superior Bay about
half way between the end of Rice's Point and the canal. They were
marshy islands, and quite a number of tamarack trees were growing on
them. After the canal was built the swells from the lake loosened them
and they finally floated out into the lake. About half way from the end
of Conner's Point to Quebec Pier was Vincent Roy's place, this was the
old site of the trading post spoken of by General Cass in his first visit to
Fond du Lac in 1820. The old stockade could be traced in 1856. On
his visit he told about seeing the Bungo family. The father of the
Rungo's was a West Indian slave, a full-blooded negro, brought out and
owned by a Hudson Bay Company officer, and his wife was a Chippewa
squaw. There was a large family of children. Stephen Bungo, one of
the boys, was born in what is now Superior, about 1798. He often used
to tell me that he and Mr. George Morrison were the two first white
children born in Superior. Mr. George Morrison was a half breed.
Bungo used to come up and visit my brother and myself, and he always
came twice a year, staying four or five days each time. On one of his
trips he seemed quite excited. He said that they had called Bungo a liar,
because he had said that he had seen Robert Fulton's steamboat at
Albany on the Hudson River in about the year 1815. He had seen that
we had an encyclopedia. Now, he said, I want you to look it up. and
give me the page, and I will show those gentlemen that Bungo is not a
liar. A story is told about him living at the mouth of the Brule. Some
Superior fellows came down on a fishing trip and while camping there
some of the party stole all of Bungo's chickens. Bungo, who was noted
for his politeness, went to their camp and said, "Excuse me, gentle-
men. Chippeway is my language, but some of you gentlemen have stolen
all my chickens." It is needless to say Bungo was well paid for his
chickens. Bungo was a great hunter". He once told me about his exploits
and went on to say how he had killed more bear than anybody else, but,
said he, "Bungo's dog died and Bungo did not kill any more bear." He
was over ninety years old when he died. He is buried over in old Super-
ior, on the Left Hand River, near the same place where he was born
nearly one hundred years before.
I will close these reminiscences of the times 1856 to 1894, and leave
to some abler person and younger to take up the thread and carry it
down to the present year, 1915.
On February 13, 1886, there was organized a society called the Old
Settlers Association of the Head of Lake Superior. I believe that this
society has done more to unite the citizens of both sides of the" bay than
anything else besides. Almost all of the charter members have passed
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1095
over the Great Divide, but few remain. Twenty-five years' residence
entitles one to a membership, so the ranks are kept full and on the
increase. It is for these, the later recruits, that I am writing. I beg of
you not to do anything that would bring disgrace on the Old Settlers
Association of the Head of the Lake Superior, or to cause a split of the
members on either side of the bay.
I shall never forget the first time that we met at Old Superior.
George R. Stuntz was our first president. As we marched up old Quebec
Pier Mr. Bishop, the old baker, led the procession. We all gathered at
the Old Superior House,' where we had a great visit and a splendid ban-
quet. We have had many meetings since that time, and the same good
cheer and fellowship prevails.
During the last few years I have tried many times to get someone
of the old settlers to write an article covering the early days at the Head
of the Lakes. In compliance with this request my good friend Mr. R. B.
McLean of Superior wrote a paper covering his early experiences and
reminiscences of the Superior side of the bay and of the north shore of
Lake Superior from Minnesota Point down. In order that the Duluth
side of the bay from Minnesota Point up might have something said
concerning it, and not being able to get anyone else to do it, I finally
concluded to write the enclosed papers. I have tried to set forth the
conditions that existed from the time our family arrived in 1856 until
the year 1894. The period from 1894 until the present time I leave for
someone else to record.
I have also taken the occasion to set forth the facts relating to the
$250,000 bond issue which was granted by St. Louis County to the
Duluth, Missabe & Northern Railroad, at the time we were extending
the road into Duluth. 1 was president of the railroad at that time, and
in this capacity conducted the negotiations between the railroad and the
county regarding these bonds.
If this younger generation will continue the work of building up a
city at the Head of the Lakes with the same faith in its future as has
been shown by the early pioneers, I doubt not but that a great city will
be the result. Yours sincerely,
Alfred Merritt.
Willard Bayliss. It may be said that biography is history of the
purest type, and to possess a history is what distinguishes man from the
lower creatures about him. From age to age they possess the same
appearance, unchanging in their instincts and habits, except in so far as
they have been modified by contact with man, and therefore the history
of one generation of irrational animals is the history of every other.
But in the human race there is progressive change which it is the part
of history to both record and accelerate and the duty of the living to
perpetuate in biographical form for the coming generation. In connec-
tion with the development of the Mesaba Range of northern Minnesota
it is an interesting part of the history of these times to make mention
of the men who have been connected with this mighty work, and one of
them deserving of more than passing notice is Willard Bayliss, superin-
tendent of the eastern half of the Chisholm District, embracing the
Hartley-Burt-Palmer, Chester, Duncan and Fraser mines of the Oliver
Mining Company, for he has stamped his impress upon the iron industry
and his community in no ordinary manner.
Willard Bayliss was born at Massillon, Ohio, January 9, 1873, a son
of Edwin and Cordelia Emeline (Zerbe) Bayliss, both natives of Ohio,
where Edwin Bayliss was engaged in the manufacture of farming machin-
1096 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
ery at Massillon, and at one time was a partner of J. F. Seiberling. In
later years, after the death of Mrs. Bayliss, his children being then
grown, Mr. Bayliss went to Bessemer on the Gogebic Range in Michigan,
and was there engaged in a lumbering, insurance and real estate business
and was equally successful in it. During the war between the North and
the South he ser.ved in the Union army, having raised a company for the
service, of which he was elected captain, and his organization became a
part of the One Hundred and Sixty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
The death of this old veteran and successful business man occurred at
Bessemer, Michigan, in 1908.
The paternal grandfather of Willard Bayliss, James Bayliss, was born
at Stratford-on-Avon, England, and when he was nine years old, about
1812, he immigrated to the United States, and in the coming years pros-
pered, becoming the owner of a tract of land in Stark County, Ohio.
Subsequently he became a manufacturer of Massillon, Ohio. When gold
was discovered in California in 1849 he was one of the first to go to the
"Golden" state, making the trip by way of the Isthmus of Panama. After
reaching California he found it more profitable to engage in merchandis-
ing than to prospect for gold, and his old account books are still in the
possession of the family and show that he accepted gold nuggets and dust
in lieu of currency. A sister of James Bayliss was married to a man
by the name of Royce, and their son, Josiah Royce, became noted as a
professor of philosophy at Harvard University, and also wrote the history
of California in the Commonwealth series.
Willard Bayliss after his mother's death went to Cleveland, Ohio, to
live with relatives of his mother, a sister accompanying him. There he
attended school and was graduated from the high school course in 1891,
following which he -became a student of Yale University, and was gradu-
ated therefrom in 1894, with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. He
subsequently took a post-graduate course in the Case School of Applied
Science, in which he also taught chemistry. Completing his course at the
latter institution, Mr. Bayliss became assistant chemist for the Otis
Steel Company at Cleveland, Ohio, but a few months later, in May, 1895,
he came to the Mesaba Range of northern Minnesota, and through the
influence of W. J. Olcott his services were secured as chemist of the
Mountain Iron Mine, he succeeding E. T. Grise. Owing to the depress-
ing financial period of 1895 many of the mines were closed, or practically
suspended operation, and Mr. Bayliss was sent to the Gogebic Range in
Michigan as a chemist for a group of mines under the same management.
Eventually he became chief engineer of the Gogebic Range Mines of the
United Steel Corporation. In December, 1904, he was further advanced
by being made superintendent of the Myers Mine at Chisholm for the
Oliver Iron Mining Company, and later held the same position for the
Glen, Clark, Pillsbury and Leonard Mines. From 1914 to 1918 he located
at Eveleth as assistant general superintendent of the Adams District, but
in the latter year was transferred to the Chisholm District to fill his pres-
ent very responsible position.
Mr. Bayliss is a very prominent man in civic matters and has served
as a member of the Water, Light, Power and Building Commission of
the village of Chisholm, and the Library Board. He belongs to the
Kiwanis Club, and is a Mason and Elk.
On October 18, 1902, Mr. Bayliss was united in marriage with
Celeste Chamberlain, of Kaukauna, Wisconsin, and they became the
parents of six children, namely : Willard Zerbe, who was born in 1904 ;
Dudley Chamberlain, who was born in 1905 ; Celeste and Mary, twins,
who were born in 1907; Edwin, who was born in 1909, and died in 1911 ;
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1097
and Franklin Gorgas, who was born in 1918. Mr. and Mrs. Bayliss are
members of the Episcopal Church.
It would be difficult to find a man more experienced in iron production
or more competent to discharge the heavy responsibilities of his position
than Mr. Bayliss. Not only has he the technical training, but he has also
the practical experience which comes from actual operation, and his judg-
ment is recognized as almost infallible with regard to his profession. As
a citizen he measures up to the highest standards of honorable American
manhood, and although a man of many affairs, never shirks a civic obliga-
tion, but gives to matters referred to him the same careful and conscien-
tious attention which have marked his career from its inception.
William F. Ulrich, chief chemist of the Chisholm District for the
Oliver Iron Mining Company, is one of the very capable men of his
profession and one who has earned and holds the full confidence of his
superiors. He was born at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, April 1, 1877,
which also happened to be Easter morning. His father, William F.
Ulrich, was a native of Germany, a graduate of the University of Berlin,
a veteran soldier of the war with Austria and the Franco-Prussian war,
and immigrated to the United States immediately following the close of
the last-named conflict and located at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he
founded the Bethlehem Preparatory School for Lehigh University, and
of which he continued owner and principal. He was known as "Doctor"
Ulrich, and held the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The death of this
scholarly and eminent man occurred at Bethlehem in 1898. The wife of
Doctor Ulrich was Mary Michael, and she came of English ancestry.
Her death occurred in 1918, she surviving her husband some twenty
years.
William F. Ulrich was one of five children born to his parents, two
of whom died in infancy. Until 1901 he resided at Bethlehem, where he
was reared and educated, being graduated from Lehigh University in
1899 with the degree of Bachelor of Science and Analytical Chemist.
For eighteen months following his graduation he was chemist for the
Bethlehem Steel Company, and then for six months held the same posi-
tion with the New Jersey Zinc Company. In November, 1901, he went
to Chicago and was chemist for the Western Electric Company for six
months, when, in April, 1902, he became chemist for the Oliver Iron Min-
ing Company at Duluth, Minnesota, remaining in that city until Janu-
ary, 1903, when he was transferred to Hibbing. In 1905 he was again
transferred, this time to Chisholm, where he has since remained as chief
chemist for the Chisholm District of the Oliver Iron Mining Company,
and is one of the most efficient and thoroughly trained men in his pro-
fession.
On July 15, 1912, Mr. Ulrich was united in marriage with Clara Bro-
gan, of Ironwood, Michigan, and they have one daughter, Ruth May.
Mr. Ulrich is independent in politics, and during 1915 served as a mem-
ber of the council of Chisholm, but aside from that has not held public
office. In religious faith he is an Episcopalian. Well known in Masonry,
he has attained the thirty-second degree, A. A. S. R., and is also a
Mystic Shriner. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Benevo-
lent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a member of the Chamber of
Commerce, the L. S. M. I. and the Engineers' Club of northern Minne-
sota. Mr. Ulrich is not only a thoroughly practical man, having gained
a vast knowledge of his work from actual operation, but he has the
technical training as well, and in his responsible position is making a
record in his profession that it will be difficult to equal and impossible to
1098 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
excell. While he is very much occupied by professional responsibilities.
he is never too busy to give the intelligent co-operation of the good
citizen to municipal affairs, and is recognized as a very constructive factor
in his community.
Finnish Daily Publishing Company. Among the forces working
for high ideals of American citizenship none exceed in beneficence the
influence exerted by the Fourth Estate. In this connection a splendid
work is being done by the Finnish Daily Publishing Company of Duluth,
publishers of Paivalehti. known as the Finnish Daily, the oldest Finnish
daily newspaper in the United States, which was established in 1898 and
first found a reading public at Calumet, Michigan, coming to Duluth
in 1912.
Politically independent, with a circulation of 8,000 readers, and sub-
scribers from coast to coast and in Canada and Finland, this publication
is recognized as the leading Finnish newspaper in the United States and
Canada. Its publishers, realizing that America is a country where every
man is given an equal opportunity for success, and believing that the
immigrant will find chances here that he could not even dream of in his
native land, have assumed it as their responsibility to present the ideals of
the country in cogent form and, while discharging the normal duties
which lie within the province of a newspaper, to foster and develop also
a loyal and patriotic spirit. It has stood behind the affairs of the United
States Government and has given strong support to such men as the late
Theodore Roosevelt and his followers.
Through the influence of Paivalehti, Americanization work among the
Finnish people is progressing rapidly, and many thousands of those of
Finnish descent, residents of the United States, who cannot read the
English language, have gained their preliminary knowledge fitting them
for American citizenship through its columns. This publication is also
recognized as a valuable instructor in economical questions, as it is its
practice to give useful information to new settlers in farming communities
and to men who take part in business life.
During the war period Paivalehti took a very active part in protecting
this country against the menacing pro-German and other un-American
elements. Its editorial staff and numerous agents and correspondents
throughout the country gave valuable assistance to the United States
Government in many issues during the period of the World war, in sell-
ing Liberty Bonds and War Savings Stamps and in aiding the Red Cross,
as well as in urging men to enlist in the fighting forces of the country.
Its columns were constantly open to issues concerning the welfare of the
country and its government.
The Finnish Daily Publishing Company maintains its plant and office
at No. 31 East Michigan street, Duluth. The editor and publisher exerts
a wide influence for good among his people in this country, and is held
in high esteem and confidence by those who have had occasion to come
into contact with him either in a business or social way.
James J. Hayes. The history of Chisholm as one of the most impor-
tant towns of the Iron Ranges involved no one personality more fre-
quently and at more vital points than James J. Hayes, who came upon the
ground the first year that Chisholm took form as a community and has
remained through good times and bad, in favorable fortune and in mis-
fortune, and in point of years of continuous residence is Chisholm's
oldest citizen.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY .1099
Mr. Hayes was born at Collingwood, Ontario, June 10, 1865, and his
life has been one of work and effort from an early age. His father,
James J. Hayes, Sr., was born in Ireland in 1834 and was brought to
Canada by his parents. At the age of ten he was left an orphan with
two brothers, and had to assume responsibilities far in advance of his
years in providing for his own living. At this early age he found a
berth on a Great Lakes fishing boat, and in subsequent years developed
all the skill and knowledge of a fisherman. He finally secured the facili-
ties and equipment and entered the fishing industry for himself. James
J. Hayes, Sr., in 1863 married Bridget McGrath, a native of Ireland.
They were married in Collingwood. The father died in 1875, at the age
of thirty-four, and the widowed mother survived him nearly half a cen-
tury, passing away in 1916.
Oldest of four children is James J. Hayes, and two others are still
living. He was only ten years old when his father died. Soon after he
was born his parents moved to Port Arthur, Ontario, or Prince Arthur's
1 .anding as it' was then known. He lived with his widowed mother, and
she was able to provide him with the advantages of the common schools,
though as early as possible he began assisting her in the fishing business
left by his father. Then some years later Mr. Hayes entered the teaming
and contracting business, owning one or two teams and having other
facilities. These facilities were employed by him and he drove a team
which turned the first sod for the initial steps in the construction of the
Canadian Pacific Railroad, which began building the Transcontinental
route westward from Port Arthur, Ontario. Along with this modest
effort as a contractor he also continued the fishing industry during the
season, and that work necessitated spending much of his time on the
lakes.
Mr. Hayes had only recently passed his twenty-first birthday when on
July 6, 1886, he arrived in Duluth with the intention of making that city
his home. He first made his acquaintance with the city some five or six
years earlier, while on board some lake boats. The first work he did
after coming to Duluth was delivering coal for the Lehigh Coal and Iron
Company. After two years at that he engaged in the retail coal and
wood business for himself with offices at 27 West Superior street. He
built up a considerable business, and at times had as many as eleven
teams working at delivering coal. In March, 1894, with John Lloyd as a
partner, he left for the Rainy Lake country. They took with them the first
steamboat ever upon those international waters, also equipment of teams,
wagons and other facilities and started a general transportation service
from the railroad at Tower to International Falls, combining both boat
and stage coaches. The line ran from Tower to Vermilion Dam, a dis-
tance of eighteen miles, then to Crane Lake, twenty-six miles further,
then to Kettle Falls, thirty-two miles, and on to International Falls, forty-
eight miles. At International Falls the service branched off to the gold
mines on both sides of the boundary. With this pioneer transportation
enterprise Mr. Hayes linked his fortunes and energies for about six years.
In 1900 he returned to Duluth and for a time was a lake captain, first
for the Independent Ferry line and later for the Stevens line. It was
in 1901 that the first village corporation was established at Chisholm, and
he was on the ground at the same time. Mr. Hayes built the first resi-
dence in Chisholm and for a short time was in the restaurant business,
later conducted a drug store and also again did contracting in teaming.
In 1902 he began furnishing the mines around Hibbing and Chisholm
with mining timber. Mr. Hayes lost all his buildings and other property
in the big fire of September 5, 1908, but quickly returned and undertook
1100 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
the rehabilitation of the village. In 1912 he platted the Hayes Addition,
and soon afterward organized the Park Addition Land Company, and
for the past eight years has been its president and is still active in the
real estate business. For a number of years he also conducted the first
sanitary dairy farm in this section.
June 2, 1884, at Port Arthur, Ontario, Mr. Hayes married Miss
Hannah Campbell, of Toronto. She died in 1891, and her only daughter,
Gertrude, is now living at Detroit, Michigan. November 14, 1893,
Mr. Hayes married Miss Margaret Shannon, of Duluth. The children
born to their marriage are Arthur, Winifred, Wilbur and Marie. Marie
died when only two months old. Both sons trained as soldiers during the
World war. Arthur graduated with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
from Notre Dame University, and was a young man of brilliant qualifica-
tions. While in the university he distinguished himself for his literary
gifts and won a prize for his literary efforts. His genius bore fruit
in literary productions that soon became recognized for their merit
and were eagerly sought and published in magazines. The young author
while just entering upon a career of great promise accepted the call to the
colors and went into training as a soldier at Camp Grant, Illinois, where
on April 16, 1918, at the age of twenty-three, he died of pneumonia. The
other son, Wilbur, was a student in the Officers' Training School at
Camp Pike, Arkansas, when the armistice was signed, and is now sales
manager for the Minnesota Utilities Company at Chisholm. The daugh-
ter Winifred is a graduate of Northwestern University at Evanston, Illi-
nois, and is teaching music.
The numerous associations of Mr. Hayes with the development of
Chisholm can be noted only briefly. In 1903, in order to help the com-
munity, he carried the mail from the Great Northern Railroad to Exmore,
about a mile distant. He also started the move and was elected by the
Commercial Club as chairman of a committee of four to induce the
Duluth, Missabe & Northern Railroad to extend its line to Chisholm. and
it was largely his personal exertions and persevering influence that
brought success to this endeavor. Mr. Hayes has long been active in
local affairs, served as justice of the peace from 1902 to 1906, for nine
years was a member of the Water, Light and Building Board, was a
street commissioner in early days and was appointed to similar office in
1919, served one term as president of the Commercial Club, was president
of the Farmers' Club five years, has been a director of the First National
Bank, and is a member of the Kiwanis Club, Knights of Columbus at
Hibbing, Modern Woodmen of America, and in politics is an independent
Democrat. Mr. Hayes and his family are members of St. Joseph's
Catholic Church.
Charles B. Woodruff, president of the Woodruff Lumber Company
and one of the veteran lumber operators in the Duluth district has been
known to the trade as a manufacturer and dealer for over thirty-seven
years.
Mr. Woodruff was born in Detroit, Michigan, and in 1884 came to
Duluth with the Barnhart Lumber Company and entered the lumber busi-
ness, manufacturing lumber from the logs and selling their output of
white pine to the trade in Minnesota, Dakota and the southwest for three
years, when he succeeded the Barnhart Lumber Company by himself,
under the firm name of C. B. Woodruff. With his own capital he con-
ducted mill and yards and sold and shipped lumber to the trade in North
Dakota and Minnesota.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1101
Finally, in 1907, his business interests were incorporated under the
title of the Woodruff Lumber Company, with himself as president and
his nephew, Arthur W. King, as secretary and treasurer. This company
is engaged in the manufacturing of interior finish, doors, sash, millwork
of all kinds, along with the general lumber business, handling and selling
all kinds of lumber, pine, hardwoods, California and Washington Coast
fir lumber and timbers. The Woodruff Lumber Company employ about
one hundred men, and has a model plant and factory extending from
800 to 925 on Garfield avenue (Rice's Point) where their offices are
located. They also have a large distributing warehouse and yard at 22nd
avenue, East, and the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad tracks in east end of
the city.
F. P. Stevenson, manager of the Stevenson Motor Sales Company,
has become a prominent figure in the automobile industry at Duluth,
though he also gained a name in local business circles during his years
of association with the laundry business.
Mr. Stevenson was born in New Brunswick, Canada, April 29, 1876,
and was eight years of age when his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Steven-
son, came to the United States and located at Duluth. His father was
for many years employed by the Zenith Dredge Company and died in
1917. Of the family of ten children F. B. Stevenson is the sixth in age
and six of them are still living.
He was educated in the public schools of Duluth and at the age of
twelve began in a measure to support himself as water boy for the
laborers engaged in building the city docks. Subsequently for two and
and a half years he was clerk in a local grocery store, and then became
driver of a laundry wagon. In 1912 he invested his capital in a laundry
business of his own at 20th avenue, West, and continued it for five
years. Since 1918 Mr. Stevenson has been in the automobile business
as manager of the Stevenson Motor Sales Company, handling both new
and secondhand automobiles, operating a large garage and repair shop
at 302 East First street. The companv handles the Westcott and the
Moore 30.
Mr. Stevenson is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, the Modern Samaritans, the Modern Woodmen of America, the
Scottish Clans, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
while politically his support is given to the Republican party. October
16, 1907, he married Miss Miriam Gregory. Mrs. Stevenson was liber-
ally educated and is a talented musician, and for several years was a
teacher of piano. She is well known in musical and social circles of
Duluth. They have three children : Virginia, born in July, 1908 ; Dale,
born in August, 1910; and Grace, born in November, 1917.
Harry H. Lemont has been a resident of Duluth since 1887, com-
ing here with Matthew Bland Harrison, the most prominent real estate
operator that Duluth has ever had, and remaining with the firm until
about a year after the untimely death of Mr. Harrison at the Spalding
Hotel on Leap Year Day, February 29, 1892. Mr. Lemont was at his
bedside and was holding his hand when he died. Since then in addi-
tion to his brokerage business Mr. Lemont has been court reporter and
has acted as court commissioner in numerous important foreign cases
where testimony was taken in Duluth, notably the Mclntyre "Flour
Mills Syndicate" and the Commodore Mills divorce cases. He was
assistant secretary of the Board of Public Works, private secretary to
-Mayor Haven and has attended three sessions of the Minnesota Legis-
1102 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Iature, acting as secretary of the Senate Judiciary Committee and special
clerk of the Senate. In war times he was elected secretary of the Fed-
eral Exemption Board, in charge of the offices in the Government build-
ing, where all exemptions claimed from the draft were finally passed
upon, and has been at different times in the offices of the county treas-
urer and auditor. Mr. Lemont is a consistent Republican and has always
taken a warm interest in politics, being actively engaged in many cam-
paigns where he had the reputation of a very successful "Gum shoe"
campaigner. He was also private secretary to Hon. Charles A. Towne
at one time. As he was familiarly called, "Our Charley" was running
against Hon. Page Morris for Congress, Mr. Towne being on the Free
Silver ticket. Some prominent Democrats approached Mr. Towne, ask-
ing him why he had Harry Lemont as his secretary when he (Lemont)
was a rank Republican. Mr. Towne told them that his secretary was
an expert stenographer, had a splendid education and suited him to a
"T," and then paid Mr. Lemont the unique compliment "but, above all
things, gentlemen, He Never Leaks," whereupon the delegation dis-
persed.
Mr. Lemont, or "Colonel," as he is generally called, received a gram-
mar, high school and university education, and before coming to Duluth,
had experience in the east in newspaper work and railroading. He
was connected with the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Rail-
way in Texas, and when that road was merged with the Southern Pacific
System he was private secretary to the general passenger agent and
then to the general manager of the road. Failing health and malaria
necessitated his return to the north and he came to Minnesota. Mr. Le-
mont was born September 10, 1863, and has had a wide and versatile
experience.
John Peterson, who has lived in Duluth and St. Louis County
for nearly thirty years, has a career interesting as much for experience
as for achievement. He was a homesteader in one of the rural dis-
tricts of St. Louis County, and until quite recently had his home out
in the country on a farm. He is a man of large business interests,
and is particularly well known in insurance circles, his business head-
quarters being on the eighth floor of the Alworth Building in Duluth.
Mr. Peterson was born in Norway September 9, 1866. He practi-
cally grew up at a cabinet maker's bench, and a trade and a common
school education equipped him for the battles of life. Before coming to
America he was a ship carpenter and sailed on salt water for four years,
from 1882 to 1886. In the spring of 1888 he came to the United States
alone, and his first location was in Kansas City, Kansas, where he was
employed at the carpenter's trade for two years. Going thence to Fos-
ter, Monroe County, Iowa, he worked in coal mines for a year. It was
about the first of June, 1891, that Mr. Peterson arrived at Duluth,
and his home and interests have been centered at that city ever since.
Up to 1894 he worked as a carpenter on various jobs, and for the next
five years, until 1899, was employed as a motorman by the, Duluth
Street Railway Company. He then resumed work at his old trade in
helping construct Elevator E extension, Peavey Elevator, Cutler and
Gilbert Dock, Northern Pacific Freight House on Fifth avenue, fol-
lowing which for three years he was with the White Line Transporta-
tion Company. Mr. Peterson in 1902 filed on his homestead in the town
of Cotton. He proved his title to his claim in 1909 and made his
home there until 1917. Some of his experiences while there reflect in
an interesting way the progress of modern improvement in St. Louis
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1103
County. His homestead was in section 7, township 54. range 15. In
1902, when he and his family went out to occupy this claim, it was a
matter of ten hours' travel to cover a distance of fourteen miles to
the nearest railroad station on account of swamps, creeks, rivers and
other natural hindrances that had to be overcome. In 1903 it was pos-
sible for the first time in winter to get through with a horse to the
railroad station. Since then roads have been built so that that entire
rural community Can be reached readily by automobile. Mr. Peterson
helped give St. Louis County some of its good modern roads, serving
two and a half years as superintendent of road work for the county.
In 1909 the St. Louis County Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Com-
pany was incorporated and organized by Charles P. Craig as president
and E. G. Church as secretary. Mr. Peterson has been a director in
that company since 1910 and its president since 1916. Since January,
1920, he has devoted most of his time to the business of farmers' insur-
ance, with offices in the Alworth Building. The officers of the St. Louis
County Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company at the present time
are John Peterson, president; A. M. Olmen, vice president; N. Nissen,
secretary; and Thomas W. Walker, treasurer. More recently the offi-
cers, directors and stockholders of this company have organized and
incorporated the Farmers' Mutual Live Stock Insurance Company, offi-
cered as follows : Charles Borg of Forbes, Minnesota, president ; E. J.
Singleton of Woodland, vice president; H. G. Larson of Meadow-
lands, secretary; Colin Thomson of Duluth, treasurer; and John
Peterson, general manager. The company commenced business May
28, 1920. It was organized to protect owners against loss by death
of horses and cattle. The business is operated on a mutual basis,
with very cheap rates and no profit is figured. No such protection had
been available prior to the organization of this company, and the com-
pany has the honor of having made the first application for a license
under the state law passed in 1917 by the State Legislature. At the time
of its incorporation the company had a little over fifty-three thousand
dollars insured valuation, with $1,061.00 collected premium for one year
deposited in trust at the American Exchange Bank. In the very brief
time that has elapsed since then a very gratifying increase in business
and insured valuation has been made.
Mr. Peterson is a Republican, and while he has never sought public
office he has performed his duties as a citizen in such a way as to con-
stitute a source of good and influence for betterment. For twelve years
he served as chairman of the Town Board of the town of Cotton,
was instrumental in organizing School District No. 49 in St. Louis
County, and was clerk of this school board for fourteen years until he
moved to Duluth to take up his residence in 1914. He also organized
a Cotton Farmers Club in 1914. Mr. Peterson has been affiliated with
the Knights of Pythias since 1891 and is a member of the Lutheran
Church.
In July, 1896, he married at Duluth Miss Berntsen, whose father
was a cabinet maker in Norway. She came to Duluth in 1892 with her
sister. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have four children : Ralph, Borghild,
Fritjof and Eleanor. Borghild died at the age of two years and the
other three were all graduated from the common schools at Cotton.
Ralph, now twenty-two years of age, is employed as a farmer on the
old homestead. Fritjof is employed in the Park department of the
Steel Plant, while Eleanor is a student in the Denfield High School.
1104 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Conrad B. Wolf is a genius and has turned his talents in the direc-
tion of floriculture, horticulture and landscape gardening, and in these
has been most thorough, theoretically and practically. While others have
developed the material resources of Hibbing and its vicinity, his work
has been of an educational and beautifying character. He has taken
the native flowers and shrubs and by transplanting and grafting them
has proven their wonderful possibilities for adornment. In this and
many other ways he has proven himself a public benefactor. The rank
and file of the people, as well as those of wealth, come to him daily
for information, and the hundreds of flower and vegetable gardens which
flourish at Hibbing are the result of his instruction and advice. Hib-
bing is noted for its liberality in procuring the best of talent for its
public service, and the park system, of which Mr. Wolf is superintend-
ent, has won approval all over the state, for he is a master in his line.
His work is not only a source of satisfaction to his home people, but a
matter of wonderment and admiration to the visitors of Hibbing. While
the acreage of the park system of the city is not of course as vast as
that of larger municipalities, it would be difficult to find anywhere in the
country any which is more artistically laid out and more beautifully
arranged. Mr. Wolf is a frequent contributor to various magazines
conducted in behalf of horticulture, and whatever he writes is accepted
by those of his calling and the public as authoritative. Mr. Wolf pos-
sesses that innate love for his work that marks the true artist. Without
it not man can accomplish the best results no matter how thorough
may be his training or how wide his experience.
Conrad B. Wolf was born in Silesia, Germany, now a part of Poland,
July 12, 1882. He was reared in his native country, and there his
father, August Wolf, lived and died. Conrad B. Wolf secured his pre-
liminary educational training in the public schools, and then he became
a student in a high school of floriculture. For three years he was an
apprentice to a horticulturalist, for in his native land lads were bound
to a trade and were taught it thoroughly. After he had learned the
fundamentals of horticulture Mr. Wolf worked as a florist, specializing
in nursery work, the growing of fruit, deciduous trees and shrubs.
Subsequently he studied and specialized in roses, growing them under
glass and in the open for the trade. Later he went to Berlin and there
specialized in landscape gardening, having during that period access to
the imperial gardens. Going from Berlin to Heilbron on the Nekrar
River, he was there engaged in specializing in landscape and nursery
work. The quality of this work and his success brought him into notice
and his services were secured by Eberhart Faber, the great pencil man-
ufacturer, for his vast estate at Forchheim, near Murenberg in Bavaria,
Germany. Following that Mr. Wolf was called to the colors and served
for two years in the army. In November, 1906, he crossed the ocean
to the United States to join his brother who had come to this country
years before, and for a time worked on his farm in Michigan, and
during that time studied the American language. A little later he
entered the capitol greenhouse at Lansing, Michigan, and within a year
had been made general superintendent of the establishment, so immedi-
ate was his genius and experience recognized. Desiring to further per-
fect himself in his knowledge of his calling he took special instruction
in the Michigan Agricultural College. In the years following Mr. Wolf
was connected with several greenhouses as manager, at Deadwood, South
Dakota, growing produce for the market. Later he took charge of the
greenhouses of W. W. Seekins of Duluth, Minnesota, where he was
engaged in raising cut flowers, orchids, palms and various commercial
_]
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1105
plants, and doing an extensive landscape business for prominent citizens.
The Oliver Iron Mining Company, hearing of his work, secured his
services for their landscape gardening, and it was so beautiful, artistic
and far in advance of anything ever conceived in that vicinity that the
authorities of Hibbing took immediate steps to induce Mr. Wolf to locate
permanently at Hibbing and assume charge of its park system. Satis-
factory arrangements were finally made, and since May, 1912, he has
been at the head of the park improvements of Hibbing.
Mr. Wolf took out his first papers of naturalization in 1909 and com-
pleted his full citizenship papers in 1914. He has never failed to appre-
ciate the privileges accorded him in admitting him to citizenship, and
has given his adopted country a loyal support. Fraternally he is a thirty-
second degree Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Mason, a Mystic Shriner
of Aad Temple of Duluth, and he also belongs to the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks. In religious faith he is a Presbyterian.
On November 25, 1909, Mr. Wolf was married to Atta L. Nichols,
of Lansing, Michigan, and they have two children: Jessie M. and Max
Conrad.
R. R. Forward, whose life history is herewith outlined, is a man
who has lived to good purposes and achieved a large degree of success,
solely by his individual efforts. By a straightforward and commendable
course he has made his way to a respected position in the business world
of Duluth, winning the hearty admiration of the people of his com-
munity and earning a reputation as an enterprising, progressive man of
affairs, which the public has not been slow to recognize and appreciate.
Those who know him best will readily acquiesce in the statement that
he is eminently deserving of the material success which has crowned his
efforts and of the high esteem in which he is held.
R. R. Forward was born in Alden, Iowa, on July 13, 1873, son of
Joseph S. and Sarah E. Forward. The family moved to Duluth, arriv-
ing in that city April 22, 1880. Here the father was engaged first in the
blast furnace business at Ricors Point, that being at a period before any
iron ore was taken out on the Vermillion or Mesaba Ranges. He after-
ward became foreman and then superintendent of the charcoal field,
which position he held until 1884, when he built the Sherman Hotel
in Duluth. He continued to follow the business of masonry contract-
ing here during the remainder of his active business life. He was a
veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted in young manhood in Com-
pany B of the 28th Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He took
part in the siege of Vicksburg and many other important battles, serving
a full enlistment period of three years and then re-enlisting for the
remainder of the war and serving until its close, with a splendid record
for faithful and courageous service.
R. R. Forward attended the public schools of Duluth until he was
fifteen years of age, when he obtained employment in a hardware store,
first as office boy and then as a clerk. He remained with that company
six and a half years and then formed a partnership with his cousin,
B. A. Martin, in 1896. They purchased a bankrupt stock of hardware,
formerly known as the West End Hardware Store, and they successfully
conducted that store for a short time and then added a complete stock
of furniture. The store business of R. R. Forward & Company was
continued until the spring of 1916, when Mr. Forward sold his interest
in the business and turned his attention to the handling of real estate,
organizing the R. R. Forward Company and establishing an office in
the Providence Building. He has handled a large amount of farms
1106 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
and cutover lands and city property in and about Duluth, enjoying a
large business along this line.
Fraternally Mr. Forward is a member of Palestine Lodge No. 79,
Free and Accepted Masons, and has attained to the thirty-second degree
of the Scottish Rite and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine. He
belongs to the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Duluth. He was
one of the one hundred eighty-five men who organized the Duluth Com-
mercial Club, and is still an active member of that body. He also holds
membership in the Ridgeview Golf Club, Modern Woodmen of America
and the Knights of the Maccabees.
On November 24. 1897. Mr. Forward was married to Lucy Clara
Neckstroth, and they have become the parents of seven children, namely :
Robert R., Jr., who is a student in the University of Ames. Iowa; Joseph
Allen, who is a student in Wilbraham Academy, Wilbraham, Massachu-
setts ; F. Bruce, who is a student in the Central High School. Duluth;
John R., Anna Elizabeth, Hubert L. and Lucy June are in the public
schools. Although a quiet and unassuming man. with no ambition for
public position or leadership, Mr. Forward has contributed much to the
material, civic and moral advancement of the community, while his admir-
able qualities of head and heart have won for him the esteem and con-
fidence of the circles in which he has moved.
Asa Dailey was born September 18, 1840, at Millrush, Ontario. At
the age of' thirteen he immigrated with his family to Hudson, Wisconsin.
In 1861, at the age of twenty-one, he enlisted in Company A, 30th Wis-
consin, with which regiment he served throughout the war. After about
four years in the lumber business at Hudson following the war, his doctor
advised him to come to Duluth for his health. This was in 1870, before
the first railroad reached Duluth and shipments of food products from
the Twin Cities and Chicago were handled overland from the terminus
at Carlton after the closing of navigation. He was one of those who
saw the first train arrive from St. Paul on the old St. Paul & Duluth
line, now the Northern Pacific.
After working several years in local- sawmills he established a sawmill
of his own on Park Point. From this mill he furnished lumber which
was used in many of the first structures erected in Duluth, also furnishing
the ties used in constructing the first street car line here. This line ran
from Eighth avenue. West, to Fourth avenue. East. Later he operated
a retail lumber yard on Lake avenue, from which business he was forced
to retire on account of ill health. On recovering from this illness in 1893
he accepted a position as deputy auditor of St. Louis County, which posi-
tion he filled until the new Court House was completed, at which tune
he was appointed custodian of the new Memorial Hall. This position
gave him an opportunity he had long awaited — an opportunity to devote
all of his time and energy to the upbuilding of the G. A. R. and affili-
ated organizations in Duluth, guiding and assisting old veterans and their
families in many ways.
One of his hobbies has been the collection of war relics, and this col-
lection, which is on exhibit at Memorial Hall, is one of the most inter-
esting in the country.
His last important work was that of compiling the data and arrang-
ing for the casting of a massive memorial bronze tablet which contains
the names of over 300 members of Willis A. Gorman Post No. 13,
G. A. R., which was mounted in Memorial Hall on May 31, 1920.
Mr. Dailey was one of the organizers of this Post and one of its first
commanders.
V_/V_J<Z_^t^/ £_/ £K^s£e~~y \^
.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1107
He is survived by five children : Mrs. A. H. Little and Charles E.
Dailey, of Duluth ; Frances P. Dailey, of Nampa, Idaho ; Josephene B.
Dailey, of Minneapolis ; and Roy A. Dailey, of Seattle, Washington.
R. M. Ritchie is an insurance man of long and varied and success-
ful experience, and is secretary and manager of the Insurance Service
Agency, Inc., a firm that occupies the entire second floor of the Glencoe
Building at Third avenue, West, and First street in Duluth. This firm
handles all departments of insurance as underwriters and engineers, cov-
ering the fields of fire, liability and bonding, and represents manv of
the foremost and standard companies, including the Aetna of Hartford,
the American Central of St. Louis, the Atlas Assurance of London, the
Citizens of St. Louis, the Equitable Fire and Marine of Providence, the
Fireman's Fund of California, the German American of New York,
Hanover Fire of New York, Hartford Fire of Hartford. National Fire
of Hartford, New Hampshire Fire, New York Underwriters, Twin City
Fire of Minneapolis, the American Surety Company, Fidelity and Deposit
Company and United States Fidelity and Guaranty of Maryland.
Mr. Ritchie was born at Cincinnati, Ohio. His father was the late
John Ritchie, a native of New York, who spent his last years in Duluth,
and was well known in newspaper circles both here and in other Amer-
ican cities. R. M. Ritchie, who was the oldest of four children, was
educated in the public schools of Chicago, and as a youth acquired his
first experience in the insurance business. He came to Duluth in 1894
and in 1912 was one of the organizers and incorporators of. the Insurance
Service Agency, of which he is secretary and manager.
Charles T. Kennedy was reared and educated in the east, but for
the greater part of his active career has been in the lumber industry in
the middle west and north. He has been a practical operator in all
phases of converting timber into merchantable lumber, and is a member
of the firm Klement & Kennedy, dealers in lumber, logs and timberland.
Mr. Kennedy, whose operations have made him a familiar figure in
lumber circles of the Duluth district, was born at Providence, Rhode
Island, June 17, 1872. He was reared and educated in the east and in
1898 came west and located at Medford, Wisconsin. There he entered
the lumber business with L. W. Gibson, and the partnership of Gibson
& Kennedy was continued until 1900, in which year Mr. Kennedy re-
moved to Duluth. In 1906 he established the firm of Klement & Ken-
nedy. They have bandied some of the most extensive log drives made
on the Tapper Mississippi River, in a single season transporting as high
as three hundred fifty million feet. of logs to the mills.
Mr. Kennedy is active in Masonry, being affiliated with the Lodge
and Royal Arch Chapter in Wisconsin, with the Knights Templar Com-
mandery and Consistory at Milwaukee, and with Tripoli Temple of the
Mystic Shrine in that city. June 18, 1896. in Wisconsin, he married
Miss Blanch Gibson, a daughter of Joseph Gibson. They have one son,
Joseph, who graduated in 1917. from college, having spent two years
also in the University of Minnesota, and during the World war served
as a soldier in Camp Pike. Arkansas, and at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.
Philip F. Westbrook, who for a young man has had a remarkably
varied experience in different branches of engineering and construction
work, is a Duluth bridge contractor and has opened a promising field
for himself in that industry and profession.
Vol. Ill— 12
1108 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Westbrook, whose offices are in the Torrey Building, was born
December 17, 1891, at Dingman's Ferry in Pennsylvania. He was
reared and educated in the east and in 1912 located at Munising, Mich-
igan. While there he took up the study of forestry and had a good
deal of practical experience in the woods and in surveying. To supple-
ment his practical experience he also took some technical work in the
University of Wisconsin. Returning to Marquette, Michigan, he was
employed by G. W. Sherman, contractor, on some important hydro-elec-
tric development. Later he was employed as an engineer by the Cleve-
land Iron Company of Ishpeming in hydro-electric development on Dead
River.
Mr. Westbrook came to Duluth in June, 1919, associated with Arthur
Mitchell, and they were engaged in prospecting work until March 1, 1920.
Since that date Mr. Westbrook has given his chief time and attention
to his business as a bridge contractor. He is a member of Masonic
Lodge No. 422 at Munising, Michigan, and in politics is nominally a
Republican, though ready to vote outside his party when the qualifica-
tions of the candidate are obviously superior.
William Murray. Of the men whose ability, industry and fore-
thought h^ve added to the character, wealth and good government of
Eveleth, none are better known than William Murray. He is a skilled
mechanic, not only by training and long practice, but by temperament
and preference, and for some years has been engaged in the handling
of automobiles. Political tendencies and executive ability have added to
the possibilities of business compensation and have broadened his efforts
into the channels of chief of the volunteer fire department, alderman and
vice president of the City Council.
Mr. Murray was born in County Bruce, Province of Ontario. Can-
ada, July 12, 1870, a son of Norman and Mary (MacDonald) Murray,
farmjng people of Scotch nativity, who both died in Canada. One of
ten children, William Murray secured his education in the public schools
of his native place and in his fourteenth year began to learn the trade
of blacksmith under the old system which involved the mastery of a
fairly complete line of mechanics. In the spring of 1887. when sixteen
years of age, he went to Saginaw, Michigan, where he found employ-
ment at his trade, later went to Sault Ste. Marie, where he spent a winter,
and in March, 1891, came to Merritt, Minnesota, where he did black-
smith work for the first sawmill at that place, being employed by C. M.
Hill, for whom he worked until 1894. At that time, with a partner, he
opened a blacksmith shop at Virginia, but in July, 1896. transferred his
activities to Eveleth, which has since been his home. At the time of his
arrival Eveleth was nothing but a raw, uncouth mining camp, with little
to indicate the growth and development that the years were to bring.
Mr. Murray, however, believed that this locality would some day be a
center of industrial and commercial activity, and his judgment has been
vindicated. In the development and progress which have eventuated he
has played his part, and can be truly numbered among the builders of
the city. On coming to this locality he opened a blacksmith shop in
the old town, and when the town was moved to the hill he came with it.
For some years he continued to devote himself to blacksmithing. but,
becoming alive to the trend of the times and public favor, he eventually
leased his shop and turned his attention to the automobile industry, in
which he has met with marked and well-merited success.
Mr. Murray is a Republican and has long taken an active part in civic
affairs. He was elected chief of the volunteer fire department, a capacity
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1109
in which he served eight years, and at present is serving his third term
as alderman and is also vice president of the Council. His public services
have been valuable to his community, and through them he has added to
the public confidence in which his straightforward business methods had
placed. him He was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian Church, and
Mrs. Murray is a Catholic. On October 11, 1899, Mr. Murray was
united in marriage with Miss Mary Ann McNellas, and they have one
daughter, Anna Isabelle.
Claude C. Alexander. For the past eleven years the welfare and
efficiency of the public schools of Hibbing have been largely in the
keeping of Claude C. Alexander, an educator of wide experience and a
man of rounded and dignified character and abilities to command the
respect of the community as well as to lead the local school system.
Mr. Alexander, whose title is superintendent of Independent School
District No. 27, which includes the village of Hibbing, was born at
Arrow Rock, Missouri, October 23, 1880, son of Edwin T. and Margaret
(Ancell) Alexander. His grandfather, James Alexander, was a native
of Kentucky and prior to the Civil war moved to Missouri and during
that struggle served in the Union army. His home and family experi-
enced many of the rigors of border warfare. Edwin T. Alexander spent
his life as a teacher and for many years was connected with the schools
of Slater, Saline County, Missouri. He was of Scotch ancestry, while
his wife, Margaret Ancell, also a native of Missouri, was of English
stock.
Claude C. Alexander grew to manhood in his native state, graduated
from the high school at Slater at the as^e of eighteen, and then entered
Missouri Valley College at Marshall, Missouri. He received his A. B.
degree from this institution in 1904, and soon after entered upon his
career as teacher in country schools. At intervals he continued his
advanced studies in the University of Chicago and in 1910 earned his
Master of Arts degree from that institution, having spent two years in
the graduate school. From 1905 to 1909 he was superintendent of
schools of Albany, Missouri, and in September, 1909, came to Hibbing
as principal of the high school. In March, 1915, he was made super-
intendent of Independent District No. 27.
Mr. Alexander is a member of the Kiwanis Club, is vice president
of the Commercial Club of Hibbing, is a past worshipful master of
Mesaba Lodge No. 255, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and has
also taken fourteen degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry. He is an Elk,
a Republican and a member of the Presbyterian Church. June 4, 1905,
he married Miss Grace L. Newman, of Albany, Missouri. Their four
children are Sarah Margaret, Jettie Lucile, Grace Elizabeth and
Claude C, Jr.
William W. Fenstermacher has been a resident of Duluth for
twenty years, at one time was a letter carrier in the city, but is widely
known for the substantial character of his enterprise as active head of
the Duluth Realty Company and other commercial organizations in the
real estate and development field.
He was born at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, November 22, 1876, son of
William and Albertine (Grundeman) Fenstermacher. From the age
of fourteen William W. Fenstermacher has been solving the problems
of life for himself. His education was such as he was able to acquire
in common schools. He was not above doing any honest work to earn
a living, and for a time peddled goods, also served an apprenticeship
1110 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
and worked at the baker's trade in Oshkosh for three years, and in
1898 came to Minnesota. For the first year he worked in a dry goods
store at Winona and became identified with Duluth as traveling salesman
out of this city. His employment as letter carrier with the postoffice
continued for four years, when he resigned and in 1907 entered the real
estate business. Mr. Fenstermacher organized the Duluth Realty Com-
pany, an organization perfected for the handling of real estate, loans,
insurance and collections and building management. Another business
which he organized is known as the Rafencha Building Company, pri-
marily for the purpose of building homes and selling them on the easv
payment plan. He has been president, manager and treasurer of both
companies.
He is active in the Duluth Real Estate Exchange, is affiliated with the
Masonic Order and Ancient Order of United Workmen, and he and
his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1908
Mr. Fenstermacher married Minnie Belle Mues. Her father. Edward F.
Mues, was an early day merchant of Winona. Mr. and Mrs. Fenster-
macher have a daughter. Florence Belle.
Luther Bishop Arnold has been identified with Duluth for over
twenty years as manager of the land department of two large railroad
companies, and in that capacity has exercised a great deal of influence
in the land development of northern Minnesota.
Mr. Arnold was born at South Hadley. Massachusetts, November 9.
1868, the older of the two children of his parents. His father was a
native of Connecticut, where he attended school and college until about
twenty years of age. and then spent a few vears in southern Illinois
as a woolen manufacturer. On removing to Chicago he was connected
with the White Hall fire clay works until his death October 30, 1885.
Luther Bishop Arnold was educated both in Chicago and Boston,
and at the a^e of eighteen went into the southwestern countrv as a
member of the engineering department of the Chicago. Rock Island &
Pacific Railway Company on surveys and construction. He was thus
employed for three years, and in June, 1899. the Rock Island Railway
Company employed him in connection with their Minnesota land grant
lands, and he has also performed a similar service for the Duluth & Iron
Range Railroad Company. He is manager of the Minnesota land grant
lands of the two companies and looks after the details of their develop-
ment and colonization. Nearly all his time is taken up with these impor-
tant responsibilities, but he is interested in some small business activ-
ities outside.
Mr. Arnold is a Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Duluth Com-
mercial Club, the Kitchi Gammi Club, Northland Golf Club. Curling
Club, Boat Club, Y. M. C. A., and also the Minnesota Club of St. Paul.
He is affiliated with [he Congregational Church and belongs to that
rapidly increasing group of men who mobilize their political support for
the best men and the most adequate principles.
Scott L. Holtzlander is one of the quiet, unassuming men who
accomplishes whatever he undertakes to do. As cashier of the Rogers-
Brown Iron Company he is rendering a very efficient service to his
emplovers and their men. while as a member of the Hibbing School
Board he is succeeding in having educational matters placed on a firm
foundation. The school board never had, nor will have, a more efficient
and conscientious member than he. and the results of his efforts for
the betterment of the schools will be felt for vears to come.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY . 1111
Mr. Holtzlander was born at Flint, Michigan, January 27, 1873, a
son of Samuel and Harriet (Wood) Holtzlander, and grandson of Adam
Holtzlander. His ancestors came to the United States from Holland
during the seventeenth century. Members of both sides of the family
were soldiers in the American Revolution, and Adam Holtzlander fought
in the War of 1812. Prior to the present generation the family name
was spelled with an "s," but beginning with Scott L. the "s" has been
changed to a "z." For generations back the members of the family have
been farmers and landowners.
Scott L. Holtzlander was born and reared on a farm and after he
had attended the neighboring schools of the country regions he took
the high school course at Flint, Michigan, and was graduated from it
in June, 1895. During that course he split wood, for which he received
ten cents a cord in order to buy the necessary books, and then walked
six miles to school and six miles back home again each day.
Having thus early learned the value of industry and thrift, when he
began his business career with the Tonawanda Iron & Steel Company
at North Tonawanda, New York, he had but little difficulty in getting
ahead, and his work attracted the attention of the Rogers-Brown Iron
Company, on the outlook for desirable men for their responsible posi-
tions, and they offered him the position of cashier at Hibbing, which
he accepted and came to this city in 1903, and still continues in that
office. Since coming here Mr. Holtzlander has been identified with the
progress of Hibbing. He is a Republican and for twelve years served
as a member of the School Board, his last term of office expiring in
1920. During this period he officiated at different times as president,
secretary and treasurer of Independent School District No. 27. In
religious faith he is a Presbyterian, and of that denomination at Hibbing
he is now treasurer, and he was one of its charter members. He is a
Thirty-second Degree Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Mason, and is
past worshipful master of Mesaba Lodge No. 255, Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons.
On September 20, 1905, Mr. Holtzlander was united in marriage
with Miss Elizabeth Magoffin, of North Tonawanda, New York. They
are the parents of three children : Scott L., Jr., Elizabeth Jane and
George Wood. During the great war Mr. Holtzlander served as an asso-
ciate member of the Legal Advisory Board of the Selective Service Law,
and in every way possible contributed his services to bring about the
successful conclusion of the war. As a member of the Hibbing Com-
mercial Club he keeps abreast of all of the advance movements in behalf
of his community, and in every way measures up to the highest type of
American manhood.
Rudolph C. Kruschke, a man of sterling integrity and distinctive
ability, gained a goodly share of pioneer honors in connection with the
business activities of the city of Duluth and was one of its well known
and highly honored citizens at the time of his death in 1918. His ini-
tiative ability was on a parity with his resolute purpose, and he established
and developed at Duluth a unique business which has been successfully
continued since his death under the corporate title of the City Gun
Store, Inc. The enterprise dates its inception back to the year 1881,
and in its present status of importance the store well merits its title of
"•Duluth's oldest athletic and sporting-goods establishment."
Mr. Kruschke was born in the state of Wisconsin in the year 1859
and was reared under the conditions and influences that marked the
middle-pioneer period in the history of that commonwealth. There he
1112 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
received his youthful education and there also he learned the trade of
watchmaker, in which he became a specially skilled workman. In 1881,
with a few tools required in his trade and with a capital that was repre-
sented almost entirely in his technical ability and his determined purpose,
Mr. Kruschke opened a Very modest little shop in Duluth on Lake ave-
nue. His skill and the excellent service which resulted therefrom caused
his business to expand and gain secure basis, and in 1889 he removed
to more ample quarters at 16 West Superior street, where he had his
first real store, with a limited stock of jewelry, watches, clocks, guns,
etc. It was at this early period in his career as a business man in Duluth
that Mr. Kruschke showed his provision and also his confidence in the
future development of his home city, which he realized must become a
favored trade center for game hunters and fishermen who should pene-
trate the forest wilds and the attractive lakes and streams of this pic-
turesque section. His belief that Duluth must become a gateway for
such sportsmen, as well as for tourists, was attended with an equal
confidence that here might be developed a substantial and prosperous
business in the handling of sporting goods, especially those pertaining
to the diversions of forest, stream and lake. He accordingly expanded
his business by installing a larger stock of guns, ammunition, cutlery,
fishing supplies and sporting goods, and later, as the tourist business
became a feature of prominence in Duluth, he added a line of Indian
goods, curios, souvenirs of local significance, novelties, toys, etc., the
while he continued the jewelry department of the business from first
to last. One-half of his store was fitted up as a curio and souvenir
shop, and this feature of the business was later imitated by many other
establishments in the city. He was the originator of this special line of
enterprises here, including the handling of precious and semi-precious
stones, many of which were produced from the raw materials found
along the shores of Lake Superior. The increase in the scope of his
business led Mr. Kruschke to make two other changes of location before
he finally established the present finely equipped and appointed estab-
lishment at 402 West Superior street, where headquarters have been main-
tained since about the year 1896, and where the business has grown
to large volume, the City Gun Store now representing one of the impor-
tant business enterprises of Duluth.
After conducting business for ten years under his own name
Mr. Kruschke changed the title of his establishment to the City Gun
Store, and in 1917, the year prior to that of his death, he incorporated
the business under this title. Up to that time he had been the sole
owner, and the stockholders of the City Gun Store, Inc., at the pres-
ent time are his widow, who is president of the company ; his son, A. R.
Kruschke, who is secretary ; and G. A. Kristy, who is treasurer.
Mrs. Kruschke was bequeathed the shares of stock held by. her hus-
band and now receives a substantial revenue from the business, in which
she owns seventy-five per cent of the stock. She was a devoted com-
panion and helpmate of her husband in the early years when he was
struggling to establish a profitable business, even as she was after the
enterprise had grown to be one of broad scope.
Mr. Kruschke's exceptional skill as an artisan was couplied with
much inventive genius, and of the various devices that thus engaged
his attention the one which has proved most valuable and yielded the
largest financial returns was the acetylene lamp which he invented for
the use of miners, hunters, etc., the device being cleverly adapted for
wearing on the head of the person using the same. This invention he
placed on the market in 1899, under the name of the "Brilliant Search
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1113
Light," and so excellent is the lamp that in its manufacture and sale
a large and prosperous industrial enterprise has been developed, the
while the lamps are now used in all parts of the world. The device
and its exploitation led to the organizing of the Brilliant Search Light
Manufacturing Company, and as a matter of commercial expediency
the headquarters of this company were established in the city of Chi-
cago in the spring of 1919. A son of the inventor has active manage-
ment of the business and of the output of the factory fully sixty per
cent is directed to export trade.
Mr. K~ruschke was for nearly forty years actively engaged in business
at Duluth, gained prosperity through his own ability and efforts, and
by his sterling characteristics commanded the respect of all who knew
him. He was one of the representative business men and loyal and
representative citizens of Duluth at the time of his death, and in this
publication a tribute to his memory is specially due. He took deep
interest in all that touched the welfare and progress of his home city*
was affiliated with leading fraternal and social organizations, and was
of the best in the community life.
Mr. Kruschke married Bertha Kumrow at Appleton, Wisconsin, in
1880, and she resides at Duluth. Their three surviving children are:
Alma R. Kruschke, now manager of the City Gun Store, Duluth ; Arthur
F. Kruschke, in the grocery and confectionary business in Duluth ; and
George A. Kristy, whose name was changed in 1914 by decree of court
in Minneapolis, and who is now manager of the Brilliant Search Light
Manufacturing Company of Chicago, Illinois.
Clyde Blough is one of the successful merchants of the Iron Range
district, and has developed a prosperous establishment for the handling
of men's clothing and furnishings at Chisholm. He came to northern
Minnesota with some experience in merchandising, but practically no
capital, and has promoted himself through persistent effort and the
exercise of all the abilities and qualifications he possesses.
He was born at LaGrange, Indiana, July 10, 1879, and is of old
American ancestry. His father, William Blough, was born in the same
state in 1868 and is a well to do farmer in northern Indiana. In 1874
he married Miss Delilah A. Rowe, a native of the same section of this
state and of an old Indiana family.
Clyde Blough was the second of seven children, all of whom are
still living. He attended grammar school and also high school at LaGrange,
but left before finishing his high school education. At the age of twenty-
one and during school days he had various employments that helped
him support himself and gave him some business experience. On Novem-
ber 20, 1900, soon after passing his twenty-first birthday, he entered
the store of Theodore Crowle at LaGrange for the purpose of learning
the clothing and furnishing business, and was continuously in his service
for six years, until Mr. Crowle sold out.
With this training and experience Mr. Blough came to Chisholm in
August, 1906, and for three years was employed by McEachin Brothers,
dealers in men's clothing, but in 1909 engaged in business for himself and
the past eleven years have rewarded him generously with a successful
business and a position of esteem in the community. He is a director
of the Chamber of Commerce, has served as school director of Inde-
pendent School District No. 40, and during the World war was captain
of his district for the Liberty Loan drives. He is a stanch Republican
and is affiliated with Lodge No. 1334 of the Elks. On November 3, 1909,
he married Miss Mae Dennis, of Merrill, Wisconsin. They have one
daughter, Delilah Jane, born November 16, 1913.
1114 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
John E. Meyer. Clearly defined purpose and consecutive effort in
the affairs of life will inevitably result in the attaining of a due measure
of success, but in following out the career of one who has attained success
by his own efforts there conies into view the intrinsic individuality which
made such accomplishment possible, and thus there is enkindled a feeling
of. respect and admiration. The qualities which have made Mr. Meyer
one of the successful men of Duluth have also brought him the esteem
of his fellow townsmen, for his career has been one of well-directed
energy, strong determination and honorable methods.
John E. Meyer, manager at Duluth for the Barnett & Record Com-
pany, engineers and general contractors, was born November 6, 1875,
in Bay City, Michigan, and is the second in order of birth in a family
of five children. His father, L. F. Meyer, is now a resident of Portland,
Oregon. John E. Meyer received his education in the public schools
of Bay City, and then took a commercial course in a business college in
that city. He began his independent career as an employe in a box
factory at Bay City, afterward working in a pail factory in the same
city. He then engaged in the lumber business on his own account,
continuing that business for fifteen years and becoming widely known,
filling large contracts for heavy construction timbers all over the country.
In 1902 Mr. Meyer became connected with the Barnett & Record Com-
pany of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was sent to Duluth as local man-
ager for that company in this city. He has been eminently successful
in this capacity and has so handled the company's business here as to win
their approval and appreciation. The Barnett & Record Company has
designed and erected approximately a thousand structures of various
kinds, including wooden, steel, concrete and tile grain elevators, malt
works, flour mills, packing houses, factory buildings, hotels, court houses,
school houses, and other public buildings, besides many ore, coal, freight
and dry docks around the Great Lakes. The company was originally
organized in 1882 and incorporated in 1892 and is a close corporation, all
of the stockholders being active workers in the organization.
In 1901 Mr. Meyer was married to Mary Magee. of Bay City, and
they are the parents of two children. Mr. Meyer is a man of action
rather than words. He is eminently utilitarian, and energy of char-
acter, firmness of purpose and unswerving integrity are among his
chief characteristics. Because of his excellent qualities of character
and his business ability, he enjoys the confidence of those who have had
dealings with him and the good will of the community at large.
Albert J. Bawden. A native son of Duluth, Albert J. Bawden is a
civil engineer by profession, and has spent a number of years in the
service of the municipal and county public works, being now the expert
technical man in charge of all drainage projects in St. Louis County.
He was born in Duluth August 19, 1888, son of Albert H. and Susan J.
(Renfree) Bawden, the former a native of Michigan, while the mother
was born in Cornwall, England. Albert H. Bawden, who came to Duluth
in 1882, was one of the pioneer mining men of the Upper Lakes, was
employed as a miner in the copper country for a time, and continued
to be identified with the mining industry until his death on May 10, 1911.
Of three children, all living, Albert J. is the second in age. He was
educated in the public schools of Duluth and was twenty years of age
i when in 1908 he took up the practical work of the engineering profession.
For three years he was a rod man on the staff of T. F. McGilvray, then
city engineer. This was followed by employment as engineer for the
water and light department, and then as assistant road engineer under
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1115
County Road Engineer E. C. Coe. The greater part of his valued services -
for the county have been connected with drainage problems. He was
assistant engineer of drainage in the county, but for several years
past has had entire charge of drainage work.
In politics Mr. Bawden votes independently and is a member of
the Lutheran Church. During the World war he served as a sergeant
in the Fourth American Machine Gun Battalion overseas, receiving his
discharge at Camp Dodge January 25, 1919. November 27, 1917, he mar-
ried Miss Amanda Gunderson, daughter of August Gunderson. She
received her education in the schools of Duluth and at Spooner, Wis-
consin. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Bawden are Edna, born
September 1, 1918, and John, born April 26, 1920.
Edwin Johnson. While he had to borrow fourteen hundred dollars
to buy his first passenger car nine years ago, Edwin Johnson is now
president and owner of The White Taxicab Company, a corporation
operating on a hundred thousand dolar capital and one of the most sub-
stantial enterprises of the kind in northern Minnesota and with an unex-
celled service in taxis, touring cars and sight-seeing busses.
Edwin Johnson was born in St. Paul, October 20, 1887, a son of
A. Johnson, who was born in Sweden and is now living retired at the
age of sixty-five at 1924 West Seventh street. Edwin Johnson, younger
of two children, was educated in public schools, learned the trade of
electrician, and for five years was employed by the telephone companies
at Duluth.
It was on leaving that service that he took up the automobile business
as driver of his own car. In the fall of 1913 he started a bus line between
Gary and New Duluth. The war having come on the steel plant shut
down in 1914, all the people moved away, and Mr. Johnson had to
discontinue his route. Just a week later he opened the Proctor Bus Line,
at that time running on a schedule of two hour intervals, and this line
is still a prominent feature of The White Taxicab Company's service,
operating cars every hour from six in the morning until twelve midnight.
These busses run between the Spalding Hotel and Proctor, and the
service continues uninterrupted both winter and summer.
In 1917 The White Taxicab Company was incorporated with Mr. John-
son as president and sole owner, Al Julin, vice president and treasurer,
and D. Glockle, secretary. The assets of the company today are a hun-
dred thousand dollars. The company maintains an office in the heart
of the business section and a large and well equipped garage at 122-124
West Second street. They employ on an average of thirty people and the
business is kept up to the highest standard of efficiency, being a notable
instance of an organization disciplined and responsive to the energy, ambi-
tion and courteous instincts of its organizer and executive head. The
growth in the business has been nothing less than wonderful, since
Mr. Johnson started driving only one five-passenger car, while now the
company's equipment consists of twenty-two cars, including two auto-
mobile hearses, seven closed limousines, six open touring cars, and seven
twenty-passenger busses.
The permanent quality of the business is reflected in the fact that
the organization and service were well maintained while Mr. Johnson,
the head, was performing his patriotic duties to the Government during
the World war. He went into the service June 15, 1918, and was honor-
ably discharged at Camp Dodge, February 6, 1919. He served as a
corporal in the 552d Motor Transport Corps, spending eight months at
Camp Humphrey, Virginia. Mr. Johnson resides in the Commercial
1116 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Club Building. He has been an active member of that organization
several years and is also a member of the Curling Club, Boat Club and
Automobile Club of Duluth.
Simon Clark is one of Duluth's oldest merchants, with forty years
of continuous business to his credit. He has long been prominent as an
official in the State and National Association of Grocers and is manager
and president of the Duluth Marine Supply Company, one of the prin-
cipal concerns supplying groceries and meats to lake transportation. This
company succeeded the first ship chandlery business established at
Duluth. The company was incorporated in 1908 with Mr. Clark as presi-
dent and G. A. Tomlinson as secretary and treasurer. On account of
his expert knowledge Mr. Tomlinson was called away by the Government
during the war and was sent to France to afford the benefit of his
experience to the Quartermaster's Department.
Simon Clark was born August 15, 1855, in Scotland, son of Thomas
and Jessie (Mackenzie) Clark. His father for many years was in busi-
ness at the historic and picturesque Stornway on the Scottish coast.
Mr. Clark's mother was a noted Gaelic scholar. A great-grandmother
of Mr. Clark attained the great age of a hundred five years and died
at Stornway as the result of an injury caused by stepping on an icy
sidewalk.
Simon Clark acquired a good high school education at Glasgow and
came to Duluth and entered the grocery trade in 1880. From 1900 to
1906 he was state president of the Minnesota Grocers Association. In
1897 was elected vice president of the National Grocers Association
at the convention in Dallas, Texas. From January, 1903, to April 1, 1905,
he served as surveyor general of logs and lumber for the Fifth District of
Minnesota, under appointment by Governor Van Sant.
Mr. Clark is also widely known in fraternal and club life. He is an
Odd Fellow, Knight of Pythias, Modern Samaritan, Elk, and in 1894
was elected loyal chief of the Order of Scotch Clans, the highest execu-
tive office of the order at New Haven, Connecticut, and was re-elected
at Duluth in 1895. He is also a member of the Royal League and the
Commercial Club. October 18, 1880, Mr. Clark married Miss Maggie
McGhie, of Lockerbie, Dumfrieshire, Scotland. Ten children were born
to their marriage.
C. W. Carhart went into the undertaking business at an early period
in his career, and for a number of years past has been actively identi-
fied with the wholesale casket business at Duluth as general manager
of the Duluth Burial Case Company.
He was born at Mechanicsville. New York, November 2, 1868, son of
J. W. and Theresa (Mumford) Carhart. His parents were natives of
New York state, and his father gave his active career to the practice
of medicine. For many years he lived at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, but died
at Austin, Texas.
C. W. Carhart, fifth in a family of eight children, attended the
public schools of New York, and at the age of fifteen became clerk in
a dry goods store. Later he entered the undertaking business at Oshkosh,
was embalmer for the firm of Spikes & McDonald, and after ten years
engaged in the undertaking business for himself. For twelve years he
was a traveling salesman for the Northern Casket Company, and in
1912 moved to Duluth and became general manager of the wholesale
casket firm of the Duluth Burial Case Company. He has given all his
energies to building this enterprise from a small jobbing concern until
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1117
it is one of the leading manufacturing and wholesale organizations of
the kind in the northwest. The business was almost exclusively jobbing,
handling the goods of other manufacturers until two years ago, but now
the company manufactures practically all the supplies it sells. The
business territory now covers the states of Minnesota, Michigan and
Wisconsin.
Mr. Carhart is a member of Lakeside Lodge, Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons, is a Republican in politics, a member of the Episcopal
Church and is active in the Duluth Commercial Club. He married Maude
McDonald of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and they have two children, William
and Janet.
Captain Martin Trewhella. A resident of St. Louis County more
than twenty-three years, and closely identified with ore development on
the Ranges, Captain Martin Trewhella has the distinction of having mined
and produced the first iron ore on properties owned and operated by and
for the great machinery manufacturing corporation known as the Inter-
national Harvester Company. This was done in the Agnew Mine, still
a property of the International Company, and of which Captain Tre-
whella is superintendent.
He was born in a great mining district, Cornwall, England, on June 14,
1861, and is the only survivor of the two children of Martin and Maria
(Pope) Trewhella. He completed a high school education in his native
country, and for several years lived with an uncle who was superintend-
ent of tin mines in Cornwall, and had incidental employment in these
mines, this constituting his first practical mining experience. In 1878,
at the age of seventeen, Martin Trewhella left England, crossed the
Atlantic, and for a time was employed in the coal mines of Pennsyl-
vania. For about twenty months he held the position of fire boss.
Early in 1881 he went to Ishpeming, Marquette County, Michigan,
and there began iron ore mining, serving a part of the time as mine boss.
While living there he made a trip to Montana, and spent two and a
half years in that state in charge of sinking a shaft for a copper mine.
He then returned to Ishpeming, and in 1897 came to the Mesaba Range
of northern Minnesota. His first work here was as mining captain of
the Auburn Mines at Virginia for the Minnesota Iron Company. A year
later he was made superintendent of the Stevenson Mine at Hibbing
for the Corrigan-McKinney Company, and in May, 1902, was employed
by the Deering Harvester Company of Chicago to open the Agnew Mine.
The Deering Harvester Company is one of the large and originally inde-
pendent units .now comprised in the International Harvester Company.
For eighteen years Captain Trewhella has been in charge of the Agnew
Mine for the Deering and the International Companies.
He is one of the widely known citizens of the Meseba District, and
is a stalwart American citizen, having taken out his naturalization papers
as soon as he reached the United States and completed his citizenship
at Ishpeming. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, a Republican
and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. March 22, 1887, Captain
Trewhella married Eliza Andrews.
M. I. Stewart, president and active head of the Stewart-Taylor
Company, has for several years directed the destinies of a business and
industry that under successive names and changes is one of the oldest
commercial printing houses in the northwest, and one that has been
kept equal to the demands of commerce and art as represented in the
printing trades from time to time.
1118 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
The business was first established about 1887 by Mr. J. L. Thwing,
but it was nearly twenty years later before Mr. Stewart acquired an
interest in the business. Mr. Stewart was born at Lynchburg, Ohio,
November 27, 1877, and came to northern Minnesota when a boy. He
acquired a public school education and graduated from high school
in Duluth in 1896. During 1896-97 he attended the University of Min-
nesota and from 1897 was a student at the University of Nebraska until
graduating in 1902. While in university he took up newspaper work
and was employed by the State Journal Company .of Lincoln. In 1902
he bought a half interest in the Faribault Journal in Minnesota, but
sold out the following year and returned to Duluth and became con-
nected with the newly organized City National Bank, serving the best
interests of that institution for over two years.
On December 1, 1905, Mr. Stewart bought a half interest in the
printing establishment of J. L. Thwing, thus bringing into existence the
firm title of Thwing-Stewart Company. It has been conducted as a high
class commercial printing establishment, handling all classes of general
printing. During the past fifteen years great advances have been recorded
and many improvements and changes in the business. When Mr. Stewart
entered the firm in 1905 the plant was at 26-28-30 West . First street.
The following year more space had to be secured for the growing busi-
ness and the location was changed to 116 West First street. Two years
later another move was necessitated by business demands, and this
time the company made its last move to date, to 310-312 West Second
street. In 1909 the business was incorporated with J. L. Thwing as presi-
dent and Mr. Stewart as secretary and treasurer. In 1912 Mr. Thwing
sold his entire interest to Mr. Stewart. A year later Charles W. Oppel
entered the organization, and a few months later the name was changed
to the M. I. Stewart Company. About the same time Alonzo W. Taylor,
who had been connected with the City National Bank of Duluth for
eight years, joined the company and assumed the office of treasurer.
On the retirement of Mr. Thwing Mr. Stewart succeeded him as presi-
dent, while Mr. Oppel has been secretary and vice president several
years. Since January 1, 1920, the name of the company has been the
Stewart-Taylor Company.
On November 21, 1907, Mr. Stewart married Elfrida G. Schlick,
daughter of Dr. and Mrs. A. T. Schlick, of Duluth. They have one son,
M. I. Stewart, Jr. Mr. Stewart is a member of the Commercial Club,
Rotary Club and Boat Club.
M. J. Harney has been a resident of Duluth for four decades, spent
most of his boyhood in this city, and as a sheet metal worker and busi-
ness man has firmly established himself in business affairs and among the
substantial citizens.
Mr. Harney was born in Ireland May 17, 1872. He was eight years
of age when his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Harney, left Ireland and
came to the United States and to Duluth. John Harney lived at Duluth,
worked many years as a laborer, and died in 1912, the father of seven
children.
Next to the youngest of these children M. J. Harney, who attended
public and parochial schools of Duluth, at the age of sixteen entered
upon his apprenticeship to learn the trade of metal worker. After
learning the trade he was employed as a journeyman for six years, and
then engaged in business for himself at 18 East Superior. His plant
is now at 121 West First street, where he has a highly prosperous busi-
ness, employing a number of workers and handling contracts for sheet
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1119
metal work and roofing, furnace installation, and all kindred work
included in those lines.
Mr. Harney is a Catholic, member of the Knights of Columbus and
votes independently. He married Miss Ella Smith. They are the parents
of five children, three sons and two daughters.
George J. O'Haire. Among the representative business men of
St. Louis County the name of George J. O'Haire, of Duluth, should
be mentioned here. He has devoted himself very largely to the automo-
bile business, having carried on his business with that discretion, fore-
sight and energy which have found their natural sequel in definite
success. Having always been a hard worker, a good manager and a
man of conservative habits, it is no wonder that he has won the posi-
tion he today enjoys in the business world.
George J. O'Haire, president of the Service Motor Company, Duluth,
was born in Springfield, Walworth County, Wisconsin, February 10,
1877, and is the eldest of the four children who blessed the union of
Patrick and Mary (Brady) O'Haire, of Corliss, Wisconsin. Patrick
O'Haire, who was born and reared in Ireland, came to the United States
in 1865, and immediately engaged in railroad construction work, building
railroads through the states of Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. He is
still living at Corliss, jWisconsin, at the age of ! seventy-six years.
George J. O'Haire received his educational training in the public schools
of Corliss and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and then took a commercial
course at the E. L. Casterton Business College at Racine, Wisconsin.
At the age of thirteen years he earned his first money as a clerk in a
grocery store, where he remained for seven years. In the spring of 1898,
at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, he enlisted in Company F,
First Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, under the command of
Captain William Mitchell Lewis, remaining with that regiment during
the period of his service. From Racine the regiment went to Jackson-
ville, Florida, where they trained under General Fitz-Hugh Lee, com-
manding the Seventh Army Corps, and remained there until they were
discharged from the service in December, 1898.
After leaving the army Mr. O'Haire returned home and entered the
employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Companv, for
whom he worked for two years. He then became the owner of a barber
shop, which he operated for seventeen years. At the end of that time
he became a retail salesman for the Ford Motor Company, remaining
in this employ for fifteen months, and then, upon the discontinuance of
retail sales by the Ford Motor Company, he came to Duluth to enter
the wholesale field for that company. He became interested in the
agency that was open in this city at that time through the changing of
the plans of the Ford people and, associating himself with P. K. Priest,
they opened an agency under the title of the Service Motor Company,
with headquarters at 122-124 East Superior street, and they are still
doing business at that location. This company has enjoyed a remarkable
prosperity and growth as the result of persistent energy and close appli-
cation, as it evidenced by the fact that in three years the business grew
from a volume of $25,000 a year to $500,000, with every assurance of a
still further constant increase. The organization today necessitates a
force of thirty people, including the office help, and the sales of this
company are without a doubt the equal of any individual retail auto-
mobile concern at the Head of the Lakes. This splendid condition
reflects great credit on the business ability and high standing of the
gentlemen who have directed its career.
1120 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
On October 20, 1902, Mr. O'Haire was married to Jennie A. Smith,
at Corliss, Wisconsin. She is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Smith,
who came from Vermont to that state and located on a farm. To this
union has come a son, Harry J., born on June 3, 1905, who is now in
attendance at the Brothers School at the Cathedral.
Politically Mr. O'Haire was formerly a Democrat, but at present he
assumes an independent attitude, voting according to the dictates of his
own judgment, regardless of party lines. Fraternally he is a member of
the Knights of Columbus, and he is also a member of the Commercial
Club and the Duluth Boat Club. For diversion Mr. O'Haire turns to
fishing, of which he is ardently fond, being a lover of outdoor life.
He is universally recognized as a splendid citizen, of sturdy integrity, right
motives and the advocate of every worthy movement for the advance-
ment of the best interests of the community.
Walter H. Borgen, county auditor of St. Louis County, is a native
son of Duluth, and for a number of years has been well known in busi-
ness life and politics.
He was born March 21, 1884, at Duluth, a son of Anton and Olivia
(Brenteson) Borgen. Duluth has long known and esteemed the splendid
qualities of Anton Borgen. Born in Norway, he came to America in 1871,
settling in Minnesota, and has been a resident of Duluth since 1877.
For thirty years he was a grocery merchant, and is still living at the
age of seventy-one. Respected as a man of good judgment and business
ability, he was sent to the Legislature for five terms, serving from 1907
to 1915 on the Republican side of the body. His legislative record shows
that he was on the right side at practically every occasion.
Walter H. Borgen is the third in a family of six children, all of
whom are still living. He attended the public schools of Duluth, but
most of his education has been acquired by practical experience. At
the age of fifteen he began learning telegraphy, and for six years was
an operator with the Duluth and Northern Railway. Leaving railroading,
he took up other lines, and eventually became secretary of the Merritt
Brothers organization, and had an active part in their extensive iron ore
operations. He was with that well known firm of pioneer Duluthians for
eight years.
His first important public service was rendered in 1912 as a member
of the Board of Civil Service Commissioners. In 1915 he was appointed
chief clerk of the Legislature, and from 1915 to 1919 served as city
clerk of Duluth. He was elected to his present office as county auditor
in 1918. Mr. Borgen is a Republican, and still has some active business
interests. He is a Knight Templar Mason, has filled all the chairs in the
Royal Arch Chapter, and is also a member of the Elks and other fraternal
orders.
October 16, 1907, he married Miss Grace Bush, of a Kansas family.
# Their two daughters are Catherine and Ruth.
Carl A. A. Heed. One of the men who supplied the initiative, the
foresight and the genius at the beginning of the Mesaba Transportation
Company, one of the Iron Range's leading transportation services, as
described elsewhere in this history, was Carl A. A. Heed, now president
of the corporation. His career has been one of interesting self achieve-
ment and a utilization of opportunity.
Born in Sweden June 25, 1886, a son of Andrew Anderson Heed,
who is still living in the old country, he was one of four children and
remained in Sweden to the age of eighteen. He had a common school
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DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1121
education. While a boy in Sweden he heard of friends who had come
to America and found better advantages for themselves and he deter-
mined to follow their example. Though unable to speak a word of the
English language on arriving, he made good use of his ability to work,
and was first employed as a section hand on the Duluth, South Shore
and Atlantic Railroad in Michigan at thirty dollars a month. In 1907
he came to Hibbing, and from 1907 until 1912 was in the service of
Mr. A. P. Silliman as assistant drill helper. Later he became associated
with C. E. Wickman selling tires and operating an automobile repair and
accessory business. It was out of this that the first motor transport
service was initiated that became the nucleus of the present great busi-
ness of the Mesaba Transportation Company.
Mr. Heed is a thirty-second degree Mason, member of the Mystic
Shrine, and of the Order of Elks. In September, 1915, he married Anna
Maria Thorsell, of Duluth. They have three children: Elsie, Carroll May
and Ardon Thorsell. Mr. Heed is a Republican in politics.
Andrew G. Anderson, who is treasurer of the Mesaba Transportation
Company and was one of the three men who started the business, as a
history of the company described on other pages, has been identified
with the mining region of northern Michigan and Minnesota practically
all his mature career, and has gained success from humble beginnings.
He was born in Sweden January 4, 1882. He was two years old
when his father, Andrew Anderson, died, and at the age of ten the
death of his mother left him an orphan. He grew up in Sweden and
after the death of his mother had to earn his own living. He came
to the United States at the age of seventeen, and was first employed in
the iron mines at Negaunee, Michigan, also was a mine worker at
Republic, in the mines at Ishpeming, and in October, 1902, came to
the Mesaba Range of northern Minnesota. For seven months he was a
contractor taking out ore in the Chisholm Mine, and in 1903 began
exploring and drilling for the Carleson Exploration Company. Thus all
his early interests for a number of years were identified with the chief
industry of the Iron Range country. It was during his work and travels
over the Range that he conceived the idea of a motor service for handling
passengers between Hibbing and Alice, and in a small way he put this
project into execution, his associate being Charles Wember. That in
reality was the foundation or cornerstone of the immense transportation
business now known as the Mesaba Transportation Company.
Mr. Anderson secured his naturalization papers as soon as possible
after coming to this country and has given a conscientious performance
to the duties and obligations of American citizenship. He is an independ-
ent voter in politics. He is a member of the Methodist Church, is a
thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and a member of
the Elks. On February 19, 1916, he married Hilda Johnson.
Edwin C. Ekstrom, secretary of the Mesaba Transportation Com-
pany, has known the life of the Iron Range from many standpoints.
He was born at Ludington, Michigan, March 19, 1889, a son of Alex-
ander and Johanna (Johnson) Ekstrom. His parents were natives of
Finland, but were married in the United States and in 1900 located at
Hibbing, where Alexander Ekstrom died in 1902 and where the mother is
still living. Edwin C. Ekstrom acquired his early education at Luding-
ton and at Hibbing, and was only thirteen when he became an under-
ground worker in the old Hull Mine operated by the Oliver Iron Mining
Company. The successive problems of life he has solved as they have
1122 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
arisen. After two years in the mine he worked a year in the mine office,
later became timekeeper, supply clerk and performed other duties, and
in the latter part of 1905 entered the service of A. P. Silliman, one of
the notable figures in the Hibbing district, first as engineer helper, then
bookkeeper, then in charge of the office. Altogether he was with Mr. Silli-
man until early in 1917. For a few months he performed the duties of a
public accountant, and on January 1, 1918, became a stockholder and
secretary of the Mesaba Transportation Company and has handled most
of the business and its technical detail. The history and service of this
business are described elsewhere.
Mr. Ekstrom is a member of Christ Memorial Episcopal Church and a
vestryman, is a Republican, is a member of the Hibbing Public Library-
Board, a director of the Commercial Club, and a member of the Kiwanis
Club. Fraternally he is a Scottish Rite Mason and Mystic Shriner and
also an Elk.
June 14, 1915, he married Miss Ethel Salmonson, of Virginia, Minne-
sota. Their two children are Edwin Carl. Jr., and Mary Ann.
Mesaba Transportation Company. The revolutionary changes in
transportation predicted and promised by the advent of the automobile
have a striking illustration in the growth and development of the Mesaba
Transportation Company, which is strictly a motor vehicle concern, em-
ploying motor trucks and using the public highways.
In the latter part of 1914 three men, C. E. Wickman. Andrew G.
Anderson and Carl A. A. Heed established a service with a Hupmobile
seven-passenger touring car as a bus making regular trips for the accom-
modation of passengers between Hibbing (now South Hibbing) and
Alice. The car was well patronized, the service proved profitable, and
the men in charge foresaw possibilities that as rapidly as possible they
utilized. Looking out over the Range country they carefully considered
the state of transportation. The Great Northern Railway maintained
one passenger train a day from Hibbing to Grand Rapids, but for all
practical purposes a number of villages were really isolated communities.
In June, 1915, the three partners purchased two White twelve-passenger
busses and instituted an important addition to their service, operating one
passenger truck to Alice and the other to Nashwauk.
On January 1. 1916, the Mesaba Transportation Company was organ-
ized by the three enterprising young business men just mentioned. They
incorporated with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars. The officers
were at the beginning also operating officials, driving the busses, looking
after repairs, and handling any and all branches of the business. Since
then the enterprise has grown until their time is required for managing
and directing the extensive organization. While they use some other
cars, their equipment is now almost entirely White trucks. They have
twenty-two of these White busses in operation. During the war they
instituted a distinct department for the manufacture of car bodies, and
they also maintain an extensive repair service. The larger cars have a
carrying capacity of eighteen passengers and operate on a regular sched-
ule between Hibbing and Grand Rapids. The service now extends to
nearly every village and industrial center in the iron range district, and
during 1919 it was estimated that the company handled a traffic of
seven thousand passengers daily on the average.
The first president of the Mesaba Transportation Company was J. F.
Lindberg. while C. A. A. Heed was vice president, C. E. Wickman gen-
eral manager and secretary, and Andrew G. Anderson, treasurer. Since
1918 Mr. Heed has been president and C. E. Wickman is general man-
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1123
ager and vice president, Andrew G. Anderson is treasurer, E. C. Ekstrom,
secretary, and the other member of the board of five directors is R. A. L.
Bogan, who has been connected with the corporation from the beginning.
In 1920 a new home was established for the company at South Hib-
bing, involving a total cost of about a hundred thousand dollars. On
January 1, 1920, a subsidiary corporation known as the Mesaba Motor
Company was organized, primarily for the erection of the new home
and also to perform a general garage, repair and sales service, represent-
ing the White trucks and other automobile accessories. The Mesaba
Motor Company is operated by practically the same men who comprise
the Mesaba Transportation Company.
Asa T. Lyons, Sr. Throughout an active and interesting career
duty has ever been the motive of action with Asa T. Lyons, one of the
representative business men of Duluth, and usefulness to his fellow men
has by no means been a secondary consideration with him. Thus strong
and forceful in his relations with his fellows, he has gained the good
will and commendation of his associates and the general public, retaining
his reputation among men for integrity and high character and never
losing the dignity which is the birthright of the true gentleman.
Asa T. Lyons, Sr., was born in the state of Maine on August 10,
1877. His father, who also was a native of Maine, was connected with
the marine service, in which capacity he started from Canada for Eng-
land with a cargo of wheat. What disaster overtook the ship was never
known, as from that time no trace was ever had of ship or crew. In
1884 Asa T. Lyons and his brother were brought by their mother to
Duluth, and here he attended the public schools. However, he was at
a disadvantage, for he was compelled to spend his nights as a telegraph
messenger boy, going to school as he was able during the daytime. From
the age of twelve years he was variously employed and at sixteen years
of age he entered railroad service, being employed as a clerk in the local
railroad yards. He was holding this position at the time of the great
strike in 1894, and with thousands of others he lost his job.
Mr. Lyons' first independent business venture was just after he left
the railroad service, when for a year or more he engaged in the livery
business, following which he owned and operated three hacks for public
hire on the streets of Duluth. He continued in this business up to the
time of the advent of automobiles, when, foreseeing the future popu-
larity and usefulness of the auto in all lines of public service, he organ-
ized an auto taxi line, with headquarters at No. 423^4 West Superior
street. In this he was eminently successful and continued to personally
operate the taxi service until 1919, when, upon the return of his son
Robert J. from overseas military service, he turned over to the latter
the taxi business and gave his own attention to the real estate business,
entering into a partnership with William L. Tull. In this business also
Mr. Lyons has been successful, and he and Mr. Tull have been engaged
in some large land deals affecting the growth and development of the
city. They have platted a number of additions to the city, en which
homes have been built, and they sell to the man of moderate income on
terms that enable him to purchase his home without hardship.
Politically Mr. Lyons is independent, voting for the men and measures
which his judgment approves. Fraternally he is a member of the Benev-
olent Society, a local organization. On November 17, 1917, at Supe-
rior, Wisconsin, he was married to Julia Jackson, and to their union six
children have been born, namely: Asa T., Jr.. who was formerly a
sailor, but is now employed in a steel plant in Duluth; Robert J., who.
Vol. Ill— 13
1124 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
as narrated above, was with the American Expeditionary Forces in
France, and since his return home has taken charge of the auto taxi
service formerly operated by his father; Dorothy E., Bernice, Mary and
Francis, who are attending the public schools. In every relation of life
Mr. Lyons has acted well his part and because of his honorable career
and his business success he enjoys a well-merited popularity in the com-
munity in which he lives.
Robert Forbes. One of the conspicuous figures in the present-day
history of Duluth and St. Louis county is Robert Forbes, one of the most
competent and expert judges of mineral lands in the country, and who
stands as one of the representative men of his community. Equally
noted as a citizen whose useful career has conferred credit upon the
community and whose marked abilities have won for him much more
than local repute, he holds today distinctive precedence in the mineral
mining world. He is essentiallv a man of affairs, sound of judgment
and far-seeing in what he undertakes, and every enterprise to which he
has addressed himself has resulted in satisfactory returns, while at the
same time he has won and retains the confidence and esteem of all
classes
Robert Forbes was born on the 18th day of April, 1860, in Scotland,
the voungest of the seven children born to his parents. On April 18,
1873. the thirteenth anniversary of his birth, he arrived in America, in
company with his mother, and they went at once to Hartford, Connecti-
cut. Two of his brothers and two of his sisters had come to this coun-
try previously, and his father came afterwards, having at that time prac-
tical retired from active business pursuits. They remained in Hart-
ford. Connecticut, for six months, after which they went to New Britain,
that state, where thev lived a year. They then moved to Canada, where
the father owned a farm. There the son Robert lived until 1880, when
he came to the city of Duluth, the father following him here two years
later.
Robert Forbes received a common school education, which he sup-
plemented by much private study and. more particularly, by practical
experience. At the age of sixteen years He began trading with the
Indians on Manitoulin Island, which he carried on for about a year. In
the meantime he had determined to adopt mining engineering as his life
vocation, and to this end he began investigating and looking up proper-
ties in western Ontario. He was successful, and has ever since devoted
practically all of his time to exploring, drilling and examining mineral
properties. Part of that time was spent on iron properties in Minnesota,
but most of the time on copper properties in Ontario, Idaho, Washing-
ton, British Columbia and other parts of the continent. For the past
twenty-five years, except for a short period, he has engaged in pur-
chasing and locating mineral lands, which he has prospected and devel-
oped, selling for and to corporations and syndicates. In 1882-3 he was
exploring Vermillion lands in Minnesota, and at the same time pursuing
his studies. From 1884 to 1887 he spent the most of his time on Ontario
properties, drilling and test pitting, principally on the silver, copper and
nickel ranges. From 1887 to 1900 he was prospecting and examining
properties through the Kootenai country, in the Nelson, Slocum and
Ainsworth districts. During 1900-2 he was examining, prospecting and
locating properties on the coast of British Columbia, principally on the
island of Texada, and then until 1904 was prospecting and developing
properties in Ontario. During the two following years he had charge
of the McGowan, Wilcox and Spider Lake Mines, and in 1906-7 he
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1125
spent the time in prospecting and developing various claims along the
coast of British Columbia. During 1908-10 he was in charge of the
Capsheaf Mine on the island of Texada, and since 1911 has been con-
sulting engineer of the properties of the Norseman Exploration Com-
pany; also since 1914 to the present time has been consulting engineer
for the Aladdin Mine of the Minneapolis and Texada Copperite Com-
pany. He has made a specialty of examining and reporting on copper
sulphides, and his success in this field has been remarkable, giving him
a reputation for accuracy and knowledge of the difficult details of this
class of work second to no man in the country. Mr. Forbes maintains
his offices in the Palladio Building, Duluth.
In November, 1893, Mr. Forbes was married to Emma W. Walker,
the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Walker. She was born near
Fort Wayne, Indiana, but from childhood lived in that city, where she
obtained her public and high school education. To this union have been
born four daughters. Ruth W., after completing her public and high
school studies, spent one year in college. She possesses unusual musical
talent, in which she has received a finished education, instrumental music
being her forte. She is also pursuing a business course and is now taking
a Chicago University extension course. Hazel K. Forbes is a graduate
of the Duluth High School, and also a graduate of Wellesley College,
where her principal courses were geology and geography. After grad-
uating she taught one year at Wellesley College in geology and during the
past two years has been teaching geology and geography in the Penn-
sylvania State Normal School at Indiana, Pennsylvania. Lois L. Forbes
is a graduate of the Duluth High School and has had two years in the
University of Minnesota. She is now taking a special course in Spanish.
Virginia T. Forbes is a student in the Duluth public schools.
Politically Mr. Forbes gives his support to the Republican party,
while his religious faith is that of the Presbyterian Church. By a
straightforward and commendable course he has made his way to a
respectable position in the business world, winning the hearty admiration
of the people of his adopted city and earning a reputation as an enterpris-
ing, progressive man of affairs and a broad-minded and upright citizen,
retaining a keen interest in all things affecting the general welfare of
the community.
George A. Gray, president and active head of the George A. Gray
Company, is an old and prominent Duluth business man, with an active
experience in the city of more than thirty years. He came to Duluth
July 5, 1888, and for the first two years was employed in the retail fur-
nishing store of J. T. Condon. He had acquired his early education at
Oak Grove Seminary and in a business college at Boston, Massachu-
setts, and had been a bookkeeper for a year and a half in a retail drug
store. Leaving the Condon store he became office manager of the Duluth
Iron & Steel Company for a year and a half. For the next eleven
years he was with I. Friemuth, beginning as bookkeeper and office man-
ager. Later he took an interest in the Tallant Company, and in 1902
organized and incorporated the George A. Gray Company, of which he
has been president, with M. B. Gray, vice president, and H. L. Peck, sec-
retary and treasurer.
Mr. Gray is a member of the Commercial Club, the Duluth Boat
Club, the Kitchi Gammi Club, Duluth Curling Club, Duluth Auto Club,
the Modern Samaritans, the Y. M. C. A., and is a member of the Con-
gregational Church and of the Republican party.
1126 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
George P. Tweed for twenty years or more has been one of the promi-
nent men directing and supporting the organized business of exploring
and producing iron ore in the iron ranges of northern Minnesota and
Michigan. In this connection he has also handled a general real estate
business, and has been a resident of and identified with Duluth affairs for
more than thirty years.
Mr. Tweed was born at Warsaw in Goodhue County, Minnesota,
April 19, 1871, son of Evan J. and Anna (Hulback) Tweed. His
father, a native of Norway, came to America in 1856, when a child, was
reared in Dane County, Wisconsin, and a few years later moved to
Goodhue County, Minnesota, where he was in the general merchandise
business until about 1876. Following that he was in business at Mon-
tevideo, Minnesota, and in, 1887 came to Duluth and for many years
was one of the city's leading merchants and only retired from commercial
life a short time before his death, which occurred in 1916. He had all
the qualities of a good citizen, possessed thorough business ability, was
interested in local affairs and enjoyed the esteem and respect of a very
large circle.
George P. Tweed, oldest in a family of eleven children, came to
Duluth when about sixteen years of age. He acquired a public school
education, and while attending school and for about three months after
finishing his education was employed as a newspaper reporter with the
Duluth Herald and the Duluth Daily News. At the age of eighteen, after
leaving school, he entered the real estate and loan business, and as a
broker and handler of real estate properties he operated alone until
about 1900.
In that year Mr. Tweed became associated in the iron ore business with
Mr. Coates and Mr. Miller. Mr. Miller withdrew from the organization
in 1908, and since then Mr. Coates and Mr. Tweed have had a construc-
tive partnership, and their efforts primarily have been devoted to explor-
ing for iron ore. They have been interested in the exploration of prob-
ably twenty iron mines, and out of their long experience have special
qualifications and facilities for managing iron exploration and iron mining.
Mr. Tweed is a member of the Kitchi Gammi Club, the Northland
Country Club, the Commercial Club, the Gogebic Country Club of Iron-
wood, Michigan, and votes as a Republican. In 1908 he married Miss
Alice Lyon, daughter of George H. Lyon of Faribault, Minnesota.
Mrs. Tweed is a woman of accomplishments both in her home and out-
side, deeply interested in church affairs. Their family consists of one
adopted daughter.
Emil H. Olson. One of the conspicuous landmarks in the retail
shopping district of Duluth is the furniture store of Enger & Olson at
Nineteenth avenue. West, and Superior street. It is a business with
which the people of Duluth have been familiar and patronized for many
years, and has always illustrated the vitality of growth and expansion.
One of the original members of the firm and continuously active in the
business is Emil H. Olson, now vice president of the corporation.
Mr. Olson was born in Chippewa County, Minnesota, July 30, 1881.
His father, Ole H. Olson, who died in 1909, was a native of Vernon
County, Wisconsin, and a pioneer of Chippewa County, Minnesota. Emil
H. Olson, second in a family of six children, attended public schools and
grew up on his father's farm, where he had his early experiences. At
the age of twenty-one he left the rural district where he was living and
with B. J. Enger bought out a small stock of furniture in Duluth. They
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1127
started under the partnership title of Enger & Olson, and so continued
for over sixteen years. In the fall of 1919 the firm of Enger & Olson
was incorporated, with B. J. Enger as president, E. H. Olson, vice presi-
dent, J. O. Bodin, secretary, and J. C. Lehvorsen, treasurer.
Only a very small percentage of the immense patronage accorded to
the house of Enger & Olson remember their start in business at 1722
West Superior street. They remained in that modest establishment only
a year and then moved to 2012 West Superior street, a location half way
between two large furniture stores. In spite of what might have seemed
a handicap the firm prospered and grew, and in two years had outgrown
its quarters and rented an additional store. They remained in that loca-
tion five years, and then rented a portion of the building where the house
is today. In three years time came another necessity for expansion, and
they took over the part of the building then occupied by C. B. Nunan.
In the fall of 1919, at the time of its incorporation, the company bought
the building outright, and since then the second floor has been remodeled
as a furniture storeroom. The company now has more than forty times
as much floor space as the firm had when they began business sixteen or
seventeen years ago. The partners themselves looked after nearly every
feature of the business at the beginning, and hired the draying and moving
of their goods. After a year they bought a horse for delivery services
and hired two extra men, and an illustration of how the business has
grown in equipment is the present facilities of three large delivery trucks,
while the staff of employes of Enger & Olson number thirty.
Mr. Olson is a member of the English Lutheran Church and is affili-
ated with the Modern Woodmen of America. He married Miss Marie
H. Rood, of Duluth.
Thomas F. Brady. A veteran member of the bar of northern Minne-
sota, and for the past fifteen years judge of the Municipal Court of
Hibbing, Thomas F. Brady is one of the best known men in this section
of the state, not only in his profession and in public affairs but also as a
follower and encourager of athletics and in social life.
Judge Brady was born at Houghton, Michigan, March 27, 1868, and
is son of a distinguished lawyer, Thomas M. Brady.
His father was born in County Meath, Ireland, March 28, 1830, and
died May 29, 1920, at the age of ninety years. Coming to the United
States when about seventeen years of age, he lived in Massachusetts and
worked as a laborer until he earned enough money to complete his educa-
tion in Notre. Dame College in Indiana and later in a collegiate institution
of Montreal, Canada. He read law and was admitted to the bar at
Detroit, and for several years practiced at Grand Rapids, Michigan. While
there he became interested in military matters, was elected a captain of
Mulligan's Regiment, and served all through the Civil war, being in both
battles of Bull Run and in many other campaigns and engagements.
After the war he resumed practice at Detroit, but in the fall of 1866
moved to northern Michigan, and for a quarter of a century carried on
an extensive practice with Houghton as his headquarters. In the sum-
mer of 1892 he moved to Duluth, in 1894 to Grand Rapids, Minnesota,
later returned to Houghton, and in 1904 came to Hibbing, where he
remained until 1910 and thereafter divided his time among his children.
While in Houghton County, Michigan, he served as city attorney many
years, as judge of Probate, as prosecuting attorney, and for two terms
was also judge of Probate in Itasca County, Minnesota. Judge Thomas
M. Brady married Margaret Friel, who died in Wisconsin in 1910, the
mother of four children.
1128 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Thomas F. Brady spent his early boyhood and manhood at Houghton,
Michigan, graduated from high school, and in 1889 received his law
degree from Notre Dame University at South Bend, Indiana. For a
time he was associated in practice with his father in Houghton, for two
years was located at Ontonagon, Michigan, in 1892 moved to Duluth
with his father, and in September, 1895, came to Hibbing, where for a
quarter of a century he has been busily engaged in satisfying the demands
of an extensive clientage and in filling various offices in the city. Fie
served as village attorney one year, four years as township clerk, city
recorder three years, and since February 8, 1904, has been on the Munici-
pal bench of Hibbing. Judge Brady is a Republican in politics, is a mem-
ber of the Catholic Church, and is associated with many social and fra-
ternal organizations, including the Elks, Knights of Columbus, Catholic
Order of Foresters, Maccabees, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Red Men,
Yeomen and others.
September 14, 1897, he married Anna Haben. Mrs. Brady died April
3, 1905, the mother of three children, Margaret, Thomas and Anna.
Judge Brady married for his present wife Delia Lafave. Six children
were born to their union : Delia, Frances, James, Patricia (now deceased),
Rosella and .William.
Judge Bert Fesler, a member of the Duluth bar for a quarter of
a century, has recently rounded out a decade of service in the office of
district judge. His associates recognize him as a lawyer of splendid
qualifications, and as a jurist whose work and character have contributed
much to the dignity and service of the Bench.
He was born July 22, 1866, at Franklin. Indiana. The only surviving
field commander of an Indiana regiment in the great battle of Gettys-
burg is his father, Col. John R. Fesler, now nearly eighty-five years of
age. Colonel Fesler was lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-seventh Indiana
Volunteer Infantry at Gettysburg and served nearly three years in the
Union army. He was a native of Ohio, was a carpenter by occupation,
but for many years has been a successful business man. For eleven years
he was in the commission brokerage business at the Indianapolis Stock
Yards. He is now assistant adjutant general of the Grand Army of the
Republic for the Department of Indiana.
Of five children, four of whom are still living. Judge Fesler grew up
in his father's household, was educated in the Franklin High School, and
holds his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Indiana. He
came to Duluth in 1893 to engage in the practice of law, and for a num-
ber of years was a hard working lawyer, giving little attention to politics.
He served as city attorney of Duluth from 1904 to 1910. In the latter
year he was appointed judge of the District Court, and on April 1, 1913,
was elected for the regular term of eight years to the District Bench,
beginning his term in 1914. He is also a member of the Duluth City
Charter Commission, is affiliated with the Elks and the Modern Wood-
men of America, and on many occasions has exemplified the character
of a disinterested and public-spirited citizen.
On March 28, 1890, Judge Fesler married Miss Vennie L. King. They
have four children: Ruth and Rachel, twins, John and James Williams
Fesler.
Herman Antonelli. A merchant of many years' active experience
in Hibbing, a veteran of the Spanish-American war, in everv way repre-
senting the highest ideals of American citizenship, Herman Antonelli has
always been regarded as most influential among that portion of the citizen-
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1129
ship of the Mesaba Range of Italian birth or parentage and as a man of
the highest character and of a record that commends him to the con-
fidence and esteem of all classes.
In Italy, where he was born, the family name was spelled Ermenegildo,
but he has always borne a simpler name since coming to America. He
was born May 26, 1864, and completed his education in a gymnasium or
high school at Nocera Umbria, Italy. Even as a youth he realized some
of the limitations and disadvantages of life in his native country, and it
was as a result of an earnest determination to improve his circumstances
and live up to the best ideals of Americanism that brought him to this
country. He came here in 1892, and after two months in Michigan went
to Ely on the Vermillion Range in northern Minnesota. He readily found
employment in the ore mines. He first came to Hibbing in 1894, when
the village had first been laid out. He worked as a carpenter and miner
and later returned to Michigan and early in 1898 enlisted in Company E
of the Third United States Infantry for service in the Spanish-American
war. He was with this regiment in training at Atlanta. Georgia, and
after peace was declared received his honorable discharge. On October
5, 1898, occurred the Indian uprising at Walker, Minnesota. At that
time Mr. Antonelli was a member of old Company E of the Third Regu-
lars of the United States Army, and was called out and took part in the
battle with the rebellious Indians. Captain Wilkinson, commanding Com-
pany E, was killed and Mr. Antonelli himself was wounded by a bullet
in the left thigh. Thus as a soldier he was wounded while in the per-
formance of duty and by his military record proved his devotion to the
land of his adoption.
After leaving the army he worked for about two years as a miner at
Ely, Minnesota, also operated a saloon there, and in January, 1902,
returned to Hibbing,. where he has had his permanent residence ever
since. Since 1904 he has been engaged in the grocery and meat market
business. With a growing prosperity as a business man he has taken an
interest in all that goes to make Hibbing a better community. He had
applied for his first papers as a citizen two months after coming to this
country, and had completed naturalization in five years. He has been a
leader among the people of his nationality and has done much to make
them realize the importance of thorough assimilation with American
ideals. He was one of the organizers of the church of the Immaculate
Conception of the Catholic faith at Hibbing. Mr. Antonelli is at present
a member of the Hibbing Library Board and is a Republican in politics.
January 25, 1901, he married Paulina Cappellaro. also a native of
Italy. Their six children are Josephine, Mary, Julia. Dominic, Bruno
and Eva.
Peter E. Meagher, president of the Meagher-Mars Company, whole-
sale mining, railroad and industrial machinery, has been a factor and
instrument in Duluth's commercial life since boyhood, winning by merit
the place he now enjoys in local business circles.
He was born at Dublin, Ireland, November 13. 1879. son of Patrick
S. and Mary (Connolly) Meagher. When he was two years old, in
1881, he was brought to America by his father, who located at St. Paul
and later came to Duluth, where for many years he was associated with
the Duluth Shoe Company as its superintendent. He is now living retired
in the city.
Peter E. Meagher acquired his education in the Christian Brothers
school at Duluth. At the age of thirteen he began earning his own liv-
ing, his first regular employment being as messenger for the Board of
1130 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Trade. He went into business for himself in 1904 as labor director for
various industrial and mining companies in and tributary to Duluth. He
has been in the machinery business since 1907. He made a specialty of
mining, railroad and lumber supplies and built some very extensive con-
nections in the buying and selling of mining machinery, a trade which
now extends all over the United States. Canada and the far east. In
1921 he and others organized the Meagher-Mars Company, with offices
in Duluth. They are wholesale dealers in mining, railroad and industrial
machinery, and Mr. Meagher is president of the business.
In September, 1904, he married at Duluth Miss Mabel Confer, daugh-
ter of Dr. Samuel C. and Mary (Holbrook) Confer. Mrs. Meagher is a
native of Minneapolis. They have four children : Morris Edwin, attend-
ing St. John's Military Academy; Robert Francis, Mary Louise and
Peter E., Jr. Mr. Meagher is a member of the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, Duluth Boat Club, Commercial Club and the Kitchi
Gammi Club.
John M. Sheehy, agent of the Duluth, Missabe & Northern Railroad
at Hibbing, is one of the best known and most universally liked men
of St. Louis County. His invariable smile and good humor, his unfail-
ing fund of good stories make him a welcome member of any gathering
brought together for purposes of good cheer. With these qualities he
has others, for he has a firm and keen grasp of business, a deep insight
into human nature and is an excellent man of affairs.
Mr. Sheehy was born at Negaunee, Michigan, April 24, 1868, a son
of James and Mary (Reardon) Sheehy. James Sheehy was born on a
farm in Ireland, and. losing his father when young, he came to the
United States. Of a frugal disposition, he saved his money, and realiz-
ing the opportunities offered in this country, helped bring his sisters
overseas. He was first engaged in railroad construction work in Con-
necticut, and while there was married, his wife also being of Irish nativity.
In the early '60s he moved to Wisconsin, and a little later went into the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and there worked at mining the remainder
of his life. He and his family belonged to the Roman Catholic Church.
John M. Sheehy was one in a family of seven children, and was reared
at Negaunee. Michigan, where he attended the common and high schools.
When about fifteen years of age he was made flagman at a railroad cross-
ing in Negaunee, and later on became fireman in a freight office. He
also did various kinds of office work and learned to be a telegrapher, and
coming to Virginia, Minnesota, worked as an operator and office man from
1895 until 1900. In 1900 he was made station agent at Virginia, and
filled that position with capable efficiency until 1903. In that year he
came to Hibbing, and this has continued to be his place of residence ever
since, and his talents have been used in discharging the responsibilities
pertaining to the position of agent for the Duluth, Missabe & Northern
Railroad.
Mr. Sheehy is vitally interested in all things pertaining to the public
weal, but unlike the majority of Irishmen he has had but little to do in a
political way beyond exercising the right of suffrage at elections, and
generally does so independent of party lines, for he prefers to vote for
the man and measures rather than for strictly defined platforms. In his
religious faith he is a Roman Catholic. His fraternal affiliations are those
he maintains with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
In 1898 Mr. Sheehy was united in marriage with Miss Kate Mc Alpine,
of Virginia, Minnesota, and they have had eight children born to them,
namely: John, Reardon, James, Ardell, Jeanette, Patrick. Georgianna and
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1131
Albert. The eldest of these, John Sheehy, was a student at the University
of Chicago when this country entered the World war, and he entered the
Officers' Training Camp at Fort Sheridan, and upon the conclusion of his
period of training was given a second lieutenant's commission and
assigned to instruct the students at the University of Minnesota. He
continued in this work until the signing of the armistice, and received his
honorable discharge in February, 1919.
Mr. Sheehy has been accorded the place in his community to which his
talents entitle him and his personality, general ability and working knowl-
edge of human nature are recognized as valuable assets to his locality.
In his position as agent he is called upon to handle some difficult prob-
lems, and he is able to do so with tact and ability, saving his road much
trouble because of this effectiveness.
Range Motor Service Company. All of the elements regarded as
essential to a successful and going commercial concern are present as
characteristics of the Range Motor Service Company at Hibbing. The
business was established six years ago, is a corporation dealing in auto-
mobiles, accessories and doing a general repair service, and the men who
established and first officered it are still actively identified as officials with
its management. This alone speaks highly of the character of the firm,
as well as the fact that its annual business aggregates more than two
hundred thousand dollars in volume.
The company was organized May 18, 1914, with an authorized capital
of $50,000. The organizers and the first officers are the same group that
are now responsibly connected with the company, and are : S. R. Kirby,
president ; J. A. Redfern, vice president ; L. O. Kirby, treasurer, and H. A.
Mann, secretary and manager.
Mr. Henry A. Mann, the secretary and manager, had demonstrated
the qualities of an exceptional automobile salesman before he came into
the present organization. He was born at Royalton, Minnesota,
March 12, 1889, son of Theron \Y. and May (Davison) Mann. His
father, now deceased, was a railroad worker. All three children are still
living, and when Henry A. was twelve months old his parents moved to
Sauk Center, Minnesota, and four years later to Little Falls. Henry
A. Mann attended his first schools at Little Falls. At the age of sixteen
he went to the metropolitan city of Minneapolis, was employed as a clerk
for three and a half years, and then seeking a change from commercial
life went out to Montana and took up a homestead. After nine months
he saw fit to give up his claim and return to Minneapolis. He then had
his first trial as an automobile salesman, and quickly demonstrated the
ability to do a successful business in this line. In fact, he established a
record by selling seven Mitchell cars in one month. After that he trav-
eled through the east selling air compressors and for a few months helped
operate his father's farm near Sauk Center and also conducted a music
business founded by his father in Sauk Center. Having acquitted himself
of the duties devolving upon him as a result of his father's death, he came
to Hibbing in 1914, and about two months later became associated with
the men above named and helped organize the Range Motor Service
Company, and has been its secretary and manager ever since.
Mr. Mann is affiliated with the Episcopal Church, is a member of
Mesaba Lodge No. 255, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Lodge of
Perfection of the Scottish Rite at Hibbing, Kiwanis Club, Commercial
Club, Algonquin Club and Curling Club. June 18, 1915, he married
Miss Elizabeth Griesel, of Winona, Minnesota. They have one daughter,
Marjorie Elizabeth.
1132 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
John G. Pasternacki is one of the principal stockholders of the
C. & P. Drug Company, which conducts six well equipped retail drug
establishments in this section of Minnesota, and he has personal charge
of the store in the city of Virginia, where he has a standing as one of the
progressive business men and loyal and public-spirited citizens of the
community.
Mr. Pasternacki was born at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, on the 15th
of June, 1883, and is a son of Frank and Eva (Kubsiack) Pasternacki,
both natives of German Poland. Frank Pasternacki was born in the city
of Posen, where he was reared and educated, and he was a youth when
in the '50s he immigrated to the United States. He had learned in his
native land the trade of harnessmaker, and to this he was giving his
attention in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, at the inception of the Civil war.
He promptly gave evidence of his fervent loyalty to the land of his adop-
tion by tendering his services in defense of the Union. He enlisted as a
private in an Ohio regiment of volunteer infantry, and with this command
served during virtually the entire period of the war, in which he took part
in many engagements and lived up to the full tension of the great conflict.
He was several times wounded, but not seriously, and he made a record
as a gallant soldier of the Union. After the war he finally established his
residence at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and there he was long established
in the general merchandise business as a leading merchant and honored
and influential citizen. He served as a member of the City Council and
was otherwise prominent in community affairs. He was a Republican in
politics, was affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and was a
zealous communicant of the Catholic Church, as is also his widow, who
still resides at Stevens Point, where his death occurred in 1902. They
became the parents of four sons and four daughters. One of the sons,
Frank, Jr., lost his life while serving as a soldier in the Spanish-American
war. Another son, Dr. Leon P., a dentist, was a first lieutenant in the
United States Army during the nation's participation in the World war.
He became mayor of Stevens Point when onlv twenty-seven vears of age,
and at the same time was a member of the Republican State Central Com-
mittee of Wisconsin. Mary, one of the four daughters, is the wife of
A. S. Nalborski, and four of their sons were in the nation's service in the
World war.
John G. Pasternacki was afforded the advantages of the public schools
of his native city, where he was graduated in the high school as a member
of the class of 1903. He then entered the school of pharmacy of the great
University of Wisconsin, and in this institution was graduated in 1905,
with the degree of Graduate in Pharmacy. Soon afterward he came to
St. Louis County, Minnesota, and became manager of a drug store at
Eveleth. In 1907 he became a traveling salesman for a leading wholesale
drug house in the city of Cincinnati, and he represented this house in
northern Minnesota and North and South Dakota until 1908, in which
year he became a clerk in the drug store of Hayes & Casey at Chisholm,
St. Louis County, Minnesota. In 1910 he formed a partnership with
E. I. Casey, one of his former employers, and came to Virginia, where he
opened the drug store of which he is now the active manager, the business
being incorporated under the title of the C. & P. Drug Company, and
involving the conducting of five other retail drug stores, as previously
noted in this context.
Mr. Pasternacki is vitally interested in all things pertaining to the
welfare and progress of his home city, is a Republican in politics, and both
he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1133
On the 12th of January, 1914, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Pasternacki to Miss Isabel Murphy, daughter of James Murphy, of
Virginia, and they have two children — James F. and Eva Ann.
Thomas C. Congdon. Hand in hand in public usefulness is the drug-
gist associated with the physician, and this mutual dependence is univer-
sally acknowledged as a condition of public safety. Healing remedies are
older than doctors, and as far back as one may delve in ancient lore he
may find mention of medicaments for some of the ills that seem to have
always afflicted the human race. At times the discovery of a new drug
of surprising properties, cinchona, for example, has wrought wonderful
changes and has been a factor in advancing civilization. Out of the hands
of ignorant and superstitious persons the lawful administration of drugs
has long since passed, and the term druggist or pharmacist now means
one who, after a protracted period of study and experiment covering a
number of years and various sciences, has passed a thorough and satis-
factory examination before a learned and authorized body of his profes-
sion. In his hands there is practically placed life and death, for it is his
knowledge of drugs and their effects that must guide him in handling
the most careful of physician's prescriptions. Thus it is no unimportant
position that a druggist holds in a community, and his personal standing is
usually of the highest. One of these representative men of St. Louis
County is Thomas C. Congdon of Hibbing.
Thomas C. Congdon was born at Watertown, New York, March 12,
1864, a son of Thomas C. and Ellen (Donovan) Congdon, both of whom
were natives of Ireland. They were reared and married in their birth-
place, but they immigrated to the United States in the early '50s. The
family settled in the state of New York, where the father engaged in
farming, but about 1869 removal was made to Minnesota, and he made a
home in Goodhue County. He is now deceased, but the mother survives
and lives at Minneapolis, Minnesota. They were the parents of seven
children, of whom Thomas C. was the fourth in order of birth.
The earliest recollections of Thomas C. Congdon center about the farm
in Goodhue County, Minnesota, where he spent his youthful davs, and at
Red Wing. In his early youth he attended the country schools at Red
Wing, but when he was onlv thirteen vears old he entered the employ
of the pioneer drug firm of Hawley & Kellogg as a bottle washer. Later
on he worked in different departments and attended the schools. For
some time he was also employed in different capacities on the Red Wing
"Advance," but moved to Minneapolis about 1881, and there he attended
school and also worked in the drug business with Crossman & Plummer
on what is now Marquette avenue, then known as Bridge Square. It was
with this firm that he received the fuller initiation in the drug business,
and decided to adopt it as his life work. In order to better equio himself
in his chosen occupation he attended for two years the Chicago College of
Pharmacy. Returning then to Minnesota, he satisfactorily passed the
examination of the Minnesota State Board of Pharmacy, and for the
ensuing ten years was at Phillipsburg, Montana, where he owned and
published the Phillipsburg "Mail." Going back to Minneapolis, he was
employed as a clerk for William Donaldson & Company for about three
years, and then, in 1902, came to Hibbing and established his present drug
business in the same store he still occupies. At that time there was no
sidewalk in front of his place, and Pine street was the main thoroughfare
of the village. He has witnessed the changes which have transformed
an insignificant village into what is claimed to be the richest small citv in
the world. Mr. Congdon has taken an intelligent part in effecting these
1134 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
changes, and for three years was a member of the Library Board, serving
during the period in which the present Library Building was erected. He
is a thirty-second degree Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Mason and
is a member of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Commercial
and Kiwanis Clubs. The Methodist Episcopal Church has in him a con-
scientious member and generous supporter.
Mr. Congdon was married September 12, 1894, to Miss Jennie D.
Leavitt, of Pine Island, Minnesota, and they have had five children,
namely: Charles B., Ora Irene, Alice B., Thomas C, Jr. (deceased), and
Jennie Marian. Charles B. Congdon is a veteran of the great war, having
served in the Marine branch, and spent nearly a year in France doing
clerical work in the office of his commanding officer.
Rufus H. Redman for thirty years has been actively associated with
the wholesale grocery business in Duluth, and is treasurer of Duluth's
premier wholesale grocery house, the Gowan-Lenning-Brown Company.
He was born at Saginaw, Michigan, December 8, 1867, a son of
Michael and Jane (Hamilton) Redman. His father was a native of Penn-
sylvania, spent his active career as a merchant, and died in 1898. The
youngest of the family, Rufus H. Redman finished his education in the
high school at Saginaw, and his first work was as a reporter on the Sagi-
naw Herald and subsequently on the Saginaw Evening News. While in
that work he developed a high degree of skill as a shorthand writer, and
when in the spring of 1887 he came to Duluth he was employed for a year
as a stenographer by the legal firm of Boggs & McDonald.
Leaving the law office he became a stenographer in the Wells-Stone
Mercantile Company, a wholesale and jobbing organization handling both
groceries and hardware, one branch of which subsequently became a part
of the great Marshall- Wells Company. Mr. Redman remained with this
concern for nine years, when the business was sold, and then with other
fellow employes he helped establish the Wright-Clarkson Mercantile
Company, the chief foundation of the present Gowan-Lenning-Brown
Company. The active head of this company was W. S. Brown, who was
president of the largest wholesale hardware concern in Iowa, and became
president of the Gowan-Lenning-Brown Company upon its organization.
On December 31, 1912, the Wright-Clarkson Mercantile Companv and the
Gowan-Peyton-Congdon Company were consolidated, at which time Mr.
Redman was elected treasurer of the Gowan-Lenning-Brown Company,
having previously been a stockholder and official of the Wright-Clarkson
Mercantile Company. Mr. Redman has been one of the active officials
who have enormously increased the business and prestige of the Gowan-
Lenning-Brown Company until its business extends over practically all
the great northwest country.
Mr. Redman is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, is a Repub-
lican and is a member of the K. K. Club, the Northland Country Club
and the Commercial Club. On June 21, 1907, he married Miss Florence
Metcalf, of St. Paul.
William E. Fay, of Tower, is manager of the Vermillion Boat and
Outing Company. An organization that took care of 20,000 tourists dur-
ing the season of 1920 is obviously one of great importance, and its suc-
cessful management reflects additional prosperity over a large region.
This company owns the Hotel Idlewild on the Isle of Pines in Lake
Vermillion, located by water about eight miles from Tower. The companv
owns a large equipment of launches and other boats, have a large hotel,
many cottages, and provides a complete organization and equipment to
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1135
insure every reasonable comfort for its guests and provide them with all
the opportunities for delightful recreation.
Mr. Fay has been one of the leading citizens of Tower for many years,
having been a resident of that section of northern Minnesota since 1891.
He was born at Port Huron, Michigan, June 28, 1872, son of William E.
and Catherine (Leich) Fay. His mother was born in Scotland and died
in 1907, at the age of sixty-four. His father was born in Michigan and is
still living at Port Huron, at the age of eighty-three. Most of his active
life was spent as a farmer and as a dealer in agricultural implements. He
is a Democrat and a member of the Methodist Church.
William E. Fay was the fifth in a family of three sons and six daugh-
ters. He attended school at Port Huron until he was sixteen, and then
sought the vigorous outdoor occupation furnished by the pine woods of
northern Michigan. His work took him to Marquette, to Duluth, and in
1891 to Tower. As a boy he took up steam engineering and later com-
pleted a course in the International Correspondence School at Scranton
in electricity, and has been a proficient member of the electrical trades for
many years. He was one of the organizers of the Vermillion Boat and
Outing Company, and the summer months find him perhaps the busiest
and most responsible man around Vermillion Lake.
Mr. Fay has been an official of the town of Tower since 1900. He is
independent in politics. In 1919 he married Miss Mary Murphy, daugh-
ter of J. D. Murphy, of Tower.
Harry S. Sherman. The largest single mine in the greatest iron ore
district owned and operated by the greatest iron ore mining organization
in the world is the Hull-Rust Mine in the Hibbing District. The super-
intendent of this mine is Harry S. Sherman, who is likewise superin-
tendent of the Kerr and Sweeney Mines, all included in the properties
of the Oliver Company. Mr. Sherman is an expert in all the technical
details of mine operation, and has been identified with the Minnesota Iron
Ranges over fifteen years.
He was born at Crown Point, Essex County, New York, April 1,
1877, son of Z. C. and Elizabeth (Benson) Sherman. All their six chil-
dren are still living. Up to the age of about fifteen he lived in his native
state, where he attended public school. The family then moved to
Chicago, where his father was employed by the Illinois Steel Company.
While at Chicago Harry S. Sherman completed his education in Lake
Forest University, graduating in 1902. In the meantime during vacations
he was employed in the chemical laboratories of the Illinois Steel Com-
pany and also in the laboratory of the Minnesota Iron Company at Two
Harbors, Minnesota.
Following his college career he spent about a year in the west in the
chemical laboratories of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company at Pueblo
and for a time was at Anniston, Alabama, with the Southern Car Foundry
Company and with the Pennsylvania Malleable Iron Company at
Pittsburgh.
On coming to the Range country of northern Minnesota in 1905 Mr.
Sherman became chief chemist of the Eveleth District with headquarters
at Eveleth, and has been one of the technical men with the Oliver Com-
pany ever since. He lived for about ten years at Eveleth, for about a year
was superintendent of the Hartley Mine at Chisholm, though he kept his
home at Eveleth, then was superintendent of the Genoa and Gilbert Mines
at Eveleth, for a short time was superintendent of various mines at
Buhl, and in 1918 moved to Hibbing and has since been carrying the
responsibilities of superintendent of the Hull-Rust, Kerr and Sweeney
Mines.
1136 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Sherman, while very completely absorbed in his regular work and
business, has not neglected the interests of the various communities where
he has lived, served as a member of the School Board of Eveleth and at
Gilbert for some ten years, and has been associated with various organiza-
tions of citizens in these localities. He joined the Masons at Eveleth, has
attained the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite and is a member of the
Mystic Shrine, and belongs to the Algonquin Club at Hibbing. In 1905 he
married Miss Ida Schneider, who was a teacher in the Eveleth schools.
They have three children : a daughter, Harriet H., and twin sons, Robert
and Richard.
Charles Foster. If accomplishment stands for success then Charles
Foster has achieved that objective point without any manner of doubt.
He does not reside in St. Louus County except in an honorary sense, and
yet he has made an indelible impression upon its life which will last for
generations to come. Few cities of ten times the number of inhabitants
of Hibbing can boast of the improvements it possesses. Fortunately the
village has been wise in its selection of officials, and not least among
them is Charles Foster, general superintendent of the water and light
department of Hibbing.
Charles Foster was born near Dwight in Grundy County, Illinois,
October 14, 1875, a son of Archibald and Mary (Burns) Foster, and
grandson of a Foster who came from Ireland to the United States at
an early day. Archibald Foster was a farmer. When the war between
the north and the south was declared he was too young to be accepted
for military duty according to his parents' ideas, so the venturesome lad
ran away from home, enlisted and served for a year in the Union army.
He still survives and lives at Burt, Iowa.
One of three sons, all still living, Charles Foster was twelve years
old when his parents moved to Iowa, and he was brought up in that state.
He completed his collegiate training with a three-years' course at the
Iowa State Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa, which is now the Iowa
State College. Following his graduation he entered the employ of the
city of Ames as a member of its light department, first working at con-
struction, and later becoming an engineer. Subsequently Mr. Foster
went to Algona. Iowa, and designed the electric light plant, the first the
city possessed, in connection with the water plant, and after its installa-
tion was completed he operated it until January, 1900. His services
were then secured by the city of Sheldon. Iowa, and he remained in
charge of its electric light plant for about nine months.' when he went to
Bismarck. North Dakota, and was there for about two and one-half
years, during that period rebuilding the electric light plant and doubling
its capacity. Mr. Foster then entered the employ of the state of North
Dakota and designed and built a light, heat and power plant for the
capitol building and the electric street railway from the city to the
capitol building. In 1904 he went to St. Paul, Minnesota, and for ten
years was constructing engineer for a construction concern of that city.
Following the expiration of that period he was consulting engineer with
the Charles L. Pillsbury Company, during which time he had charge of
the St. Paul office and complete charge of the engineering work of the
State Board of Control. In April. 1918. he. came to Hibbing as general
superintendent of the water and light department, and under his super-
vision the new light and power plant was constructed at a cost of
$1,000,000.
Charles Foster was married to Bessie Wrightman. Both he and his
wife belong to the Presbyterian Church. He is a thirty-second degree
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1137
Ancient x\ccepted Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Mystic
Shrine. He also belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,
the United Commercial Travelers, American Society of Mechanical Engi-
neers, Engineers' Club of Northern Minnesota, Duluth Engineers' Club,
American Water Works Association, Hibbing Kiwanis Club and the
Hibbing Commercial Club.
I
William N. Rowe. More than a third of a century's service with the
iron mining companies comprised in the great organization of the Oliver
Iron Mining Company is a record shared by few of William N. Rowe's
associates. Many years of this employment have constituted a record of
consecutive advancement and increased responsibility, and for the past
fifteen years Mr. Rowe has been master mechanic of the Hibbing Dis-
trict for the Oliver Company.
He was born in Cornwall, England, January 5, 1872, a son of Nicholas
and Mary (Nichols) Rowe. When he was six years of age he was left
motherless and was thirteen when his father died, and after that had
no advantage in schools and for a time went to work to support himself
as a boy helper in a Cornish tin mine. A married sister living at Tower
or Soudan in northern Minnesota was the influence and means of his
coming to the Iron Range district in 1886, and in this locality he has lived
and had his mature experiences. For a few months he attended school
at Tower, and during the winter of 1886-87 carried tools into the black-
smith shop of the Minnesota Iron Company. Then followed successive
employment as a water carrier, helper on a diamond drill, pushing cars
or "tramming" on trestle work, again carrying tools, cutting wood for
a boiler, firing a boiler, and looking after an engine in the machine shop.
These were mere "jobs," means of earning a living, with no connection
between them in the way of consecutive advancement. Realizing this and
determining to put an end to his drifting career he entered the machine
shop to serve an apprenticeship, and steadily worked at his trade until
June, 1899, when he was given the mark of proficiency as master
mechanic of the Elba Mine. He remained in that mine until December,
1902. was then sent to Eveleth as master mechanic of the Adams and
Spruce Mines, and in June, 1905, was moved to Hibbing as master
mechanic of the Hibbing District for the Oliver Iron Mining Company.
The Oliver Iron Mining Company is the largest organization of its kind
in the world, and not only employs an enormous number of workers but
has an even greater proportion of mechanical equipment for doing the
work of ore mining. It is the responsibility of keeping this mechanical
equipment in repair and constant readiness for its functions that devolves
upon Mr. Rowe as master mechanic of the Hibbing District. The effi-
ciency of his department is absolutely vital to the work of all depart-
ments of the organization in the district, and his long retention in the
position is of itself all the evidence needed as to his ability and worth to
the company.
Mr. Rowe, whose home has been at Hibbing since 1905, is a Knight
Templar and Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner. He married, October
30. 1899, Miss Minnie Blight, of Tower. Minnesota. Their three chil-
dren are Richard Lawrence, Minnie Lois and Mary Elizabeth.
Thomas J. Rowe, a brother of William N. Rowe, the master
mechanic of the Oliver Iron Mining Company at Hibbing, is also a
young citizen of St. Louis County who has made a mark in the world.
He was born in Cornwall, England. July 27, 1876, was left an
orphan, and in 1886 came to the United States and grew up at Tower,
1138 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Minnesota, in the home of a married sister. He had school advantages
at Tower only a short time, and there learned the printer's trade, his
first wages being a dollar a week and later advanced to six dollars a
week. For a time he worked on a Catholic paper at seventeen dollars
a week, was employed on the Duluth Herald, also went to Springfield.
Ohio, and subsequently through the influence of Congressman Paige
Morris of Duluth was given a position in the Government printing
office at Washington. While there he rose to a foremanship, but
resigned when the World war began, enlisted and became a lieutenant
in aviation, though all his service was in this country. His wife is
deceased.
Edmund S. Tillinghast. A mining engineer whose experience
covers a large share of the great west. Edmund S. Tillinghast for the
past fifteen years has been identified with the Iron Ranges of northern
Minnesota, and is superintendent of the Leetonia Mine of the Leetonia
Mining Company and the South Agnew Mine of the Inter-State Iron
Company, with headquarters at Hibbing.
Mr. Tillinghast was born at East Hampton. New York, September
3, 1879, a son of Henry and Eliza (Edwards) Tillinghast. His father
spent his active life as a farmer on Long Island. New York, and the
widowed mother is still living there. During his youth on Long Island
Edmund S. Tillinghast acquired a good education, graduating from the
high school at East Hampton in 1895. and in 1896 graduated from the
high school of South Hampton, New York. He entered Lafayette Col-
lege at Easton. Pennsylvania, pursued the technical and mining engi-
neering course, and was graduated as mining engineer in 1900. In the
same year he entered the service of the Oliver Iron Mining Company as
engineer and chemist at Ironwood and Bessemer, and was in those locali-
ties three years. The following two years he was similarly employed by
the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company in New Mexico and Wyoming, and
in 1905 came to Hibbing and since then has been superintendent of the
Leetonia Mine. He was given the additional duties of superintendent
of the South Agnew Mine in 1918.
Mr. Tillinghast is an independent Republican voter, is a Presbyterian,
and has attained the fourteenth degree of Scottish Rite Masonry.
December 29, 1903, he married Miss Rose Perkins, of Norway, Michi-
gan. They are the parents of four children: Jean. John P.. Mary and
Harry S.
i
Clarence A. Remington is a veteran business man of Hibbing,
has been selling lumber there for over twenty years, and is proprietor
of a large wholesale and retail lumber establishment.
Mr. Remington was born in Jefferson County, New York, May 28,
1859; son of Daniel J. and Margaret M. (Young) Remington. His
father was both a lawyer and a farm owner. Reared and educated in
his native county, where he attended public schools and later had the
advantages of a business college, Clarence A. Remington found his
chief enthusiasm as a youth in railroading and mechanical lines. He
was particularly interested in steam engineering, and he utilized his
opportunities and directed his studies to marine engineering and before
he was twenty years of age held a Government license as a marine engi-
neer on the Great Lakes. Later he went to Manistee, Michigan, where
for a short time he was in the lumber business, was employed in the
lumber mills as an engineer at Minneapolis for five years, built and
operated a sawmill at Wacoma. Minnesota, also operated a mill at
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1139
St. Ann, and in November, 1899, came to Hibbing, then a village of
practically one street and with about twenty-five hundred population.
He has lived here ever since, has seen the community grow and expand,
and has kept his own business affairs prospering accordingly. For a
time he had his office where the Oliver Hotel stands. For five years
he served as president of the Security State Bank, and has had various
other interests to identify him with the community.
Mr. Remington has an exceptionally fine family. He married in- 1887
Elnor Kohler. Their children are Winfield A., Clarissa, now deceased,
Raymond D., Margaret, Dorothy and Katharine. The son Raymond
was in the World war and spent eighteen months in France.
Frank J. Baranowski is a young business man who for several
years past has helped stimulate and build up some of the diversified
industrial affairs of Duluth.
Mr. Baranowski was born at Berlin, Wisconsin, December 13, 1883.
His father, John J. Baranowski, is a native of Poland, came to this
country about fifty-three years ago, and after living in New York city
some five years established his home at Berlin, Wisconsin, and he is
still living, at the age of seventy-seven, at Oshkosh. Wisconsin. All of
his nine children are also living, Frank J. being the fourth in age.
Frank J. Baranowski acquired a public school education at Oshkosh,
Wisconsin, and at the age of sixteen became a workman and apprentice
in the Ornamental Art Glass Company of Oshkosh. He remained with
that firm for five years, and then used his experience and modest capital
to establish a business of his own in the same line at Oshkosh. He was
there only a short time, and in 1915 came to Duluth and established
the Duluth Oshkosh Company in the West End. He made this a busi-
ness of gratifying proportions and continued it from January 1, 1915.
until June, 1918. At that time he was instrumental in organizing the
Twin Ports Brass Foundry and Machine Company. The company was
organized in 1917, and Mr. Baranowski has been president with John
Scanlan as secretary and treasurer. This is one of the new and thriv-
ing industries at the Head of the Lakes, and performs all the service of
brass founders and manufacturers of brass, aluminum, bronze and white
metal castings. Their output has an extensive sale and distribution all
over Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. Mr. Baranowski was
married in 1915 and has one of the comfortable homes of Duluth.
Alfred Hoel. No profound analysis is required in discerning the
results that have been achieved by Mr. Hoel in connection with banking
enterprise, for in this important field he has made his ability and efforts
count to good effect, with the result that he is now president of the
First National Bank of Gilbert, this being one of the substantial and
effectively managed banking institutions of St. Louis County. His
younger brother, Charles B., is president of the Miners National Bank
at Eveleth, this county, and of him individual mention is made on other
pages of this volume.
Alfred Hoel was born at Rushford, Fillmore County, Minnesota, on
the 21st of December, 1879, and is a scion of one of the sterling pioneer
families of this commonwealth. His father, Edward P. Hoel, is now
one of the substantial citizens of Polk County, and has been long and
successfully associated with farm industry in Minnesota. His father,
Peter P. Hoel, was a native of Norway and an honored pioneer farmer
of Minnesota. Edward P. Hoel and his wife, whose family name was
Sanderson, still reside in Polk County.
Vol. Ill — 14
1140 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Alfred Hoel was an infant at the time when his parents removed to
a pioneer farm near Stephen. Marshall County, where he was reared
to the age of twelve years. Thereafter he resided and attended the
public schools at Stephen until he had attained to the age of sixteen
years, his higher educational discipline having been acquired in the
Park Region Luther College at Fergus Falls, in the commercial depart-
ment of which institution he was graduated in the spring of 1900.
Thereafter he served about eighteen months as deputy sheriff of Polk
County, and in 1904 established his residence at Eveleth, St. Louis
County, his father having here become associated in mercantile business.
He remained only a short period at Eveleth, and in the latter part of
the year 1904 became associated with the Citizens Bank at Mcintosh,
Polk County. He continued his connection with this institution until
April, 1908. and in the meanwhile held the position of assistant cashier.
In the spring of 1908 Mr. Hoel became assistant cashier of the Farmers
Bank at Munich. North Dakota, where he remained until the following
September. He then became cashier of the newly organized Farmers
Bank of McKenzie County, that state, at Charlson, and he continued
his residence in North Dakota until January, 1912, when he disposed of
his interests in that commonwealth and returned to Minnesota. It was
at this juncture in his career that he assumed the post of cashier of the
First National Bank of Gilbert, an institution to whose development and
upbuilding he has contributed in large and worthy measure. In July,
1913. he was elected vice president of the bank, and in the latter part
of that year removed to Biwabik, St. Louis County, and became vice
president of the First National Bank of that village. He continued as
vice president of the First National Bank of Gilbert and also as vice
president of the State Bank of Aurora, being the virtual manager of all
three banking institutions until January. 1916, when he disposed of his
interests in the Biwabik and Aurora banks and returned to Gilbert,
where he was elected president of the First National Bank, a position
in which he has since continued his vigorous and effective administration.
Mr. Hoel is aligned staunchly in the ranks of the Republican party,
and he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church. He is
an active member of the St. Louis County Club, was a charter member
of the lodge of Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Williston,
North Dakota, and in this fraternity is now affiliated with the lodge at
Eveleth. He is a member of Virginia Council. Knights of Columbus, at
Virginia, this county, and is affiliated also with the Modern Woodmen
of America.
On the 12th of September, 1912, was solemnized the marriage of
Mr. Hoel to Miss Elizabeth Marie Munn, of Crookston, this state, and
they have three sons, Raymond Girard and Ronald William, twins, and
Robert Alfred.
Arthur L. Egge. Efficiency is the keynote of success along every
line. It is the symbol, the co-related sign and working feature of every
age and of all peoples. Without it civilization today would have never
have passed beyond the stage of the cave man. None of the learned
professions would have been developed from the first faint beginnings
of people striving for mental advancement, nor would the air, the earth,
the water, and even the sky above them all be bound together to produce
power and place for each generation. Half-way methods cannot succeed
in anything. To raise anything beyond the low level of mediocracy
requires skilled and carefully trained knowledge and the power to use
it to the highest degree. In nothing is this truer than in the vast and
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1141
intricate system by means of which the banking establishments of the 1
world conduct their multiform transactions. In them as nowhere else
has efficiency been raised to the highest power, and its officials demon-
strate in every act of their everyday life how important is this one
characteristic. One of the men who is recognized as a living epitome
to efficiency, not only in his business life, but in his private and civic
connections as well, is Arthur L. Egge, cashier of the Merchants and
Miners State Bank of Hibbing.
Arthur L. Egge was born at Alpena, Michigan, September 1, 1884.
When he was four years old he was taken by his father, Hans Egge,
to Washburn, Wisconsin, where he was reared and primarily educated.
Later he attended business college at Ashland, Wisconsin, and since he
was sixteen years old he has been self-supporting. Until September,
1905, Mr. Egge was engaged in an insurance business at Washburn,
Wisconsin, but he then came to Hibbing, through the influence of L. G.
Sicard, to take charge of the insurance business of the Merchants and
Miners State Bank. He has served in every department of the bank,
and in 1914 was made its cashier, which responsible position he still
holds.
On October 5, 1912, Mr. Egge was united in marriage with Leila
M. Torrance, of St. Paul, Minnesota, who was born in Canada.
Mr. Egge belongs to the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and
the Kiwanis Club. For several years he has been on the Library Board,
and is making a good record for himself in that capacity. In every
respect he measures up to high standards and is recognized as a worth-
while citizen and sound and dependable banker of unusual capabilities
for his business.
Charles E. S. McIllhargey is chief of the Hibbing fire depart-
ment. Hibbing is one of the most modern of small communities in
Minnesota, if not in the country, and naturally has a fire department
which compares favorably with any other in a place much larger than
it, and the chief of the department, Charles E. S. McIllhargey, from
years of experience has become efficient.
Charles E. S. McIllhargey was born at Port Crescent, Huron County,
Michigan. March 21, 1872. one of nine children, seven of whom are still
living, who were born to the marriage of Charles E. S. McIllhargey and
Mary Young, natives of Ireland. They were married in Canada, where
they were reared from early childhood. The elder McIllhargey when
nearly twenty came to Michigan and engaged in lumbering, but after-
ward moved to Duluth, Minnesota, where -from 1884 until his death in
1906 he was a land broker. His widow survived him until 1912, when
she. too, passed away.
The younger Charles E. S. McIllhargey lived with his parents until
he reached manhood, during which time he obtained his early educational
training in the public schools. He was engaged in various occupations,
spending many winters in the woods with his father, working on the
docks in summertime, trimming grain and hauling railroad iron, firing
a stationary engine, in fact, performing whatever honest tasks came to
hand. In November, 1888, he joined the fire department of Duluth, and
continued with it until the fall of 1905, a period of seventeen years,
during which time he served as captain of three different houses for
thirteen years, having worked up to this position through the different
grades. Previous to 1905 he was twice elected chief of the fire depart-
ment of Virginia, Minnesota, but he refused to quality for the position
for reasons justifiable to himself. By appointment from Frank Ansley,
1142 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
then president of the village of Hibbing, he was induced to become fire
chief of the Hibbing department in 1909, a position he has since filled.
Between 1906 and 1909 he and a brother traveled through the north-
western states and western Canada, and stripped three quarter sections
of timber land in eastern Washington. He also spent a couple of years
diamond drilling on the Vermillion and Mesaba Ranges in northern Minne-
sota and in Wisconsin, so that he is a man of wide experience and varied
knowledge. Mr. Mclllhargey is a member of the Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks, the Commercial Club and the Kiwanis Club.
He is a Democrat, but he frequently casts his vote for the man rather
than for party platforms.
On August 2, 1902, Mr. Mclllhargey was united in marriage at
Duluth, Minnesota, with Mary McBride, of that city. He has a remark-
ably fine record as a fireman that is without a spot or blemish, and his
fellow citizens speak of him in highly eulogistic terms, as does the chief
of the Duluth fire department. A man of the highest type of American
manhood, he stands as an example to the rising generation of a public
official who has always lived up to the obligations of his position and dis-
played courage of a rare order.
Walter M. Webb, superintendent of the mines of the Gilbert District
for the Republic Iron & Steel Company, has been on the Mesaba Range
since 1906, and is a thoroughly competent and widely experienced prac-
tical miner.
He comes from a family of miners. He was born at British Hollow,
Wisconsin, October 7, 1876, son of William and Martha (Nichols) Webb.
His grandfathers were miners, his maternal grandfather having had
charge of a mine in Wales, while his paternal grandfather came to the
United States from England and was engaged in lead mining in south-
western Wisconsin, having in England been a tin miner. William Webb,
father of Walter M. Webb, at one time was a miner in Montana, and
subsequently for many years engaged in merchandising at Lancaster,
Wisconsin.
Walter M. Webb grew up at Lancaster, graduated from the high
school in 1894, and this was followed by an experience of seven years
as an employe of the local post-office and as clerk in a store. For about
a year he was connected with the United States Land Office at Devil's
Lake, North Dakota.
Mr. Webb came to the Mesaba Range in 1906, and at Nashwauk
became clerk in the office of the Pittsburgh Iron Ore Company. He
filled a similar position for the same company at Sparta, and in 1910
entered the service of the Republic Iron & Steel Company as surface
foreman in the Pettit, Schley and Marista Mines at Gilbert. About a
year later he was made an underground foreman, and after two years
was promoted to mining captain of the Pettit Mine. He was safety
engineer about three years, and since then has been superintendent of all
the mines in the Gilbert District operated by the Republic Iron & Steel
Company.
Outside of his business Mr. Webb has found interests of a civic
nature, and for several years has been a member of the School Board of
Independent School District No. 18 and at the present time is chairman
of the board. During the World war he was energetic in helping promote
the aims of the Government. He is a Republican in politics and a member
of the Masonic fraternity and the Gilbert Commercial Club. On March
31, 1903, he married Delphia Oswald, of Lancaster, Wisconsin. Their
two children are Louise and Walter.
FN OX
A PON
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1143
John P. Murphy, who is recorder of the village of Hibbing, came to
this mining center of northern Minnesota in 1903, after an experience
that had taken him around the world, and is one of Hibbing's livest
and most public spirited citizens.
He was born in County Cork, Ireland, November 23, 1868, a son of
Jervois and Johanna (Thau) Murphy. His mother was born in Germany
and is still living in Ireland, where the father died.
John P. Murphy acquired a liberal education in the schools of his
native land, and at the age of twenty went to Australia to join an
uncle in that country. He found apportunities and accepted them largely
in clerical lines in Australia until early in 1902, when he sailed for the
United States. Reaching the Pacific Coast, he was in the service of the
Standard Oil Company of California for one year. Then, after going
back for a short visit to Ireland, he returned to the United States and
through the influence of friends came to Hibbing. For a number of
years Mr. Murphy resumed clerical work at Hibbing, but in 1915 was
appointed village accountant and in 1917 village recorder, the office he
has filled with admirable efficiency for the past three years.
Mr. Murphy is a Democrat and has always worked for his friends
in politics. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, belongs to the
Kiwanis Club, and is a past exalted ruler of Hibbing Lodge of Elks.
In 1912 he married Miss Ethel Robinson, of Canton, New York. Their
four children are Marjorie, John P., Jr., Mary and Richard.
Duluth Iron & Metal Company. During a period of nearly a
quarter of a century the Duluth Iron & Metal Company has maintained
its integrity as one of the thriving and strictly substantial business indus-
tries of this city. Founded in 1887 upon a policy of sound principles,
it has grown and developed in scope, prosperity and usefulness, and
today occupies a recognized position among the necessary industrial
adjuncts of the city.
The founder of this business was Max Zalk, who in 1887 recognized
the opportunity for the establishment of an enterprise for the handling
of scrap iron. Gradually the business grew and developed, and during
the early '90s H. Y. Josephs was admitted to the partnership. In 1904
Louis Zalk, son of Max Zalk, became a member of the firm. The business
has continued to grow steadily and has lived through several alarming
financial crises, including that of 1893, maintaining its honorable name
and at all times discharging its responsibilities. From a business devoted
purely for the handling of scrap iron, it has developed into an enterprise
which takes in almost every class of steel products both new and second-
hand, and serves a territory as far west as Washington and Oregon.
It makes a specialty of buying complete railroads that are through
serving their territory and distributing their equipment all over the
country. During the war the company was a valuable feeder for the
Minnesota Steel Company, and helped materially in swelling the output
of the munition steel of that plant.
Clarence E. Moore, who has practically spent all of his active life
engaged at some branch of mining and now general superintendent of the
Pitt Iron Mining Company at Virginia, operating the Miller Mine at
Aurora and the Wacootah Mine at Mountain Iron, came to the Mesaba
Range in the spring of 1894, bringing with him the first vulcan shovel on
the range and probably the first to be used in Minnesota. He was in the
early stages of his mining career connected with Lake Superior Iron
Mines, Consolidated, owned by the Rockefeller interests, engaged as
1144 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
steam shovel engineer. Air. Moore worked in the summer of 1894 at
Mountain Iron, and in the fall of the same year started the first stripping
on what is now the Adams open pit at Eveleth.
Mr. Moore was born on a farm in Williams County, Ohio, May 20,
1865, and is one of nine children born to John and Frances (Wight)
Moore, both directly descended from a long line of American ancestry.
He was three years old when he accompanied his parents to Camden,
Indiana, where he was reared and educated. When he was twenty-one
he began life for himself, and, incidentally, prior to that he obtained
an inkling of civil engineering under the county surveyor of the county
where his father was a member of the Board of Commissioners.
Mr. Moore worked on a gravel train at one dollar and ten cents a
day to enable him to secure funds wherewith to acquire a special educa-
tion at the Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso. He did all this inter-
mittently. Through the influence, indirectly, of Mr. McNaughton of
the Wisconsin Central Railroad he was induced to go to the Gogebic
Range in Michigan to put in operation a steam shovel which had been
unsuccessfully tried out. Messrs. Dickerman and Alcoott were then in
charge of the old Lake Superior Consolidated. Mr. Moore filled two
cars in the fast time of eight minutes, and this was the record up to
that date. He remained on the Gogebic Range until the panic of 1893. In
the following year he moved to Mountain Iron on the Mesaba Range of
northern Minnesota. As previously mentioned, he worked at the Adams
open pit and remained on various places on the Range until 1900, then
taking charge of the mining for the Pitt Iron Mining Company, and
since that year has been a resident of Virginia. In 1897, however, owing
to abnormal depression in iron ore production, Mr. Moore secured a leave
of absence to do steam shovel work for Thomas A. Edison. He became
intimately acquainted with the noted scientist and inventor, and one of his
highly prized possessions is an autograph letter from Mr. Edison, extolling
the abilities of Moore in high terms.
On January 17, 1899, Mr. Moore was married to Miss Nellie Rowan,
of St. Paul, Minnesota. They have three daughters : Frances, Lavelle
and Eleanor. Fraternally Mr. Moore is affiliated with the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks and the Kiwanis Club. He has never been a
seeker after political office, but has always given a good citizen's atten-
tion to civic matters designed for the public benefit.
William F. Lawrence. Senior member of the contracting firm of
Lawrence & McCann of Eveleth, and a leading and progressive business
man of this community, William F. Lawrence has been a frequenter
of the Range country for the past fifteen years, during which time he
has established a substantial reputation for business integrity and sound
citizenship. He is of Canadian nativity, having been born in the Province
of Ontario September 8, 1879, and when three years of age was brought
by his parents, William D. and Margaret (Fleming) Lawrence, to North
Dakota, moving thence to Duluth and later to Two Harbors. The father,
now deceased, was a farmer during his early years and later a con-
tractor. He is survived by the widow.
William F. Lawrence received his educational training at Two Harbors
and Duluth, in the public schools, and at the age of sixteen years secured
a position as bookkeeper for a lumber concern at Two Harbors. Follow-
ing this he was engaged in logging, sawmilling and lumbering, and through
these connections became identified with his present line of business.
Mr. Lawrence is part owner of a lumber yard at Two Harbors, his
associate in the business being his former employer there. For six
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1145
years he was a partner at Duluth of the contracting firm of Pastorer-
Lawrence Company, but severed his connection with that enterprise in
January, 1913, when was formed at Eveleth the firm of Lawrence &
McCann, of which James H. Lunz was a member one year, Mr. Law-
rence's present partner being Charles R. McCann. This concern has
always had its headquarters at Eveleth, where it maintains offices in the
First National Bank Building. The business of Lawrence & McCann
pertains principally to contract work in road grading and paving city
streets and alley work of all kinds, water works and sewers and general
construction connected therewith. Their contracts have included all the
paved streets of Eveleth, Biwabik, Gilbert and Aurora, with a good deal
of the same kind of work done at Mountain Iron, Virginia and Buhl, and
sewers and water works have been erected by them at all these places.
Mr. Lawrence is a Protestant in his religious faith, and in politics is
a Republican. He is fraternally identified with the Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks, and also holds membership in the Eveleth Rotary
Club.
Hugh A. Farnand has been on the Mesaba Range since 1909, and
by practical experience rather than through the advantage of a technical
degree acquired in college has become an expert in the different phases
of iron ore mining, and for several years has enjoyed increasing responsi-
bilities from the Inland Steel Company, who now employ him as local
superintendent of the Laura Mine at Hibbing.
Mr. Farnand was born at Buckingham in the Province of Quebec,
Canada, June 20, 1886. He is the oldest of five sons of Patrick N. and
Mary (Fahey) Farnand. In 1894 the family moved to the United
States and located at Norway, Michigan, where Patrick Farnand lived
until his death on March 12, 1908.
' Hugh A. Farnand graduated from high school at Norway in 1905,
and during the subsequent fifteen years has had a great variety of busi-
ness experience. His first important employment after leaving high
school was as blacksmith's helper in the Monroe Mine at Norway. For
about a year he filled the position of assistant postmaster at Norway.
He was next employed as a line man for the Telephone Company, filled
some positions in the Hiawatha Mine at Michigamme, Michigan, assisted
in installing the electric light plant at Iron River, Michigan, spent six
months in Duluth and then in 1909 came to the Mesaba Range at Eveleth
and kept time underground in the Fayal Mine for the Oliver Iron Mining
Company. Two years later, on February 22, 1911, he became clerk at
the Laura Mine at Hibbing for the Inland Steel Company. In the next
fall that corporation began operating the Grace Mine, and Mr. Farnand
was given additional responsibilities as clerk of this mine. June 1, 1915,
he was promoted to superintendent of both mines, and since the opera-
tion of the Grace Mine was discontinued in 1918 his duties have been
as local superintendent of the Laura Mine.
Mr. Farnand is a Catholic, is a fourth degree Knight of Columbus,
and votes independently. He was appointed a member of the Library
Board in 1919. On January 22, 1913, he married Miss Mary Cummings.
Their five children are Patrick Bernard, Katharine Mary, John Francis,
Margaret Ellen and Elizabeth Ann.
William A. Masters. While there have been active mining opera-
tions in the Chisholm district for over twenty years, the history of the
village began in 1901, and just about two years later William A. Masters
appeared on the scene and has been continuously identified with the life
1146 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
and affairs of the locality and in a way to give him prestige as one of
the leading citizens.
When he came to the village his first duties were as bookkeeper in
the mercantile firm of E. G: St. Clair and Anton Enger. Mr. Masters
recalls that when he arrived at Chisholm the village consisted of only
ten or twelve buildings on Main street. The population was just begin-
ning to exert itself in the matter of municipal improvements. They
had been getting light and power from a sawmill on Longyear Lake.
A very small amount of sidewalk had been constructed, but no sewerage
system had been installed. Mr. Masters by continued residence has
witnessed all the remarkable changes in Chisholm, transforming it from
a mining camp to a modern city. He was here during the great fire which
swept away the village in the fall of 1908, and was one of the citizens
who with courage returned and set themselves toward the task of
rebuilding.
After about two years of service as bookkeeper he was recorder of
the village for three years, until 1909. In that year he bought the Chis-
holm Herald, the first newspaper established at the village and in the
same year as the village was incorporated. He bought the paper and
plant from its founder, F. W. Tallboys. He continued its publication
a year and then sold out to engage in the automobile business. His was
the first venture of the kind in Chisholm and he was owner of the second
car in the town. Mr. Masters has sold automobiles for the past ten
years, and has represented the Wyllis-Knight, Overland and Mitchell
cars and has also carried a line of automobile accessories.
Along with a prospering business Mr. Masters has seldom been with-
out official occupation and duties in Chisholm. In 1911 he was elected
municipal judge, and held that post continuously for eight years, until
1919. He has been a member of the School Board since 1912.
Judge Masters was born in a log house on a farm in Schuyler County,
Missouri, September 10, 1883. He was one of three children, two of
whom are still living. His father was Henry Clay Masters and his
mother, May Rowland. His father spent his early years as a farmer,
but more recently has been engaged in the mining industry. In 1884,
when William A. Masters, was a year old, his parents moved to Ottumwa,
Iowa, and he spent his childhood and boyhood there to the age of thirteen.
He acquired a common school education, and from boyhood has been a
worker and most of the years of his life he has been on his own respon-
sibility. His home has been at Chisholm since he was twenty years of
age. Mr. Masters is a Republican in politics and is affiliated with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, the Order
of Elks and the local Kiwanis Club. On April 28, 1907, he married Miss
Bertha Harris, of Hibbing. Their three children are William A., Jr.,
May and Frederick.
Frank W. Bullen, M. D. In no other profession is the true char-
acter of a man brought out so prominently as that of medicine, and as he
really is, so is he held by his professional associates and colleagues. All
who have the honor of Doctor Bullen's acquaintance admit that he is
respected, honored and beloved not only by his associates but those to
whom he has long been a ministering friend. Since 1907 he has been
connected with the medical fraternity of Hibbing, and his influence is
strongly felt here and throughout St. Louis County.
Doctor Bullen was born at Mason, Michigan, October 23, 1869, a son
of George and Lodema (Wright) Bullen, both of whom were of English
parentage. George Bullen was a farmer who died about 1874. Growing
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1147
up in Michigan, Doctor Bullen passed his boyhood on his father's farm,
and after he had studied in the Mason schools he spent two years at
the Michigan State Agricultural College, following which' he embarked
in a drug business and was engaged in this line in Kansas and Colorado
for a few years and later at Chicago. He then took a six months' course
at the Chicago School of Pharmacy. In 1893 he entered Rush Medical
College, from which he was graduated in 1896, following which he
served for eighteen months as an interne in Cook County Hospital and
then was resident physician of the Milwaukee Emergency Hospital.
In 1900 he located at Eveleth, Minnesota, and was there engaged in a
general practice, following which he established himself at Hibbing,
and is connected with the Rood Hospital. He is a member of the
St. Louis County Medical Society, the Minnesota State Medical Society
and the American Medical Association. Doctor Bullen is a thirty-second
degree Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner. He was
examining physician for the Local Draft Board during the great war.
A Republican, he has served as deputy county coroner for several years,
and was elected a director of the Hibbing School Board in 1920 to serve
a term of three years, and was elected chairman of the board in 1921.
In 1904 Doctor Bullen was united in marriage with Maude Betts, of
Litchfield, Minnesota. They have two children, Janet and Ann. Doctor
Bullen is an exceptionally capable man in every respect and his fellow
citizens show their appreciation of him and the service he is rendering
his community whenever the opportunity is given them.
John W. Dohm is a graduate engineer of the University of Wis-
consin, and almost ever since leaving the University has been identified
in a professional capacity with Hibbing, where he is now president of
the Dohm Building Company.
Mr. Dohm was born on a farm in Dane County, near Madison,
Wisconsin, August 25, 1887, son of W. A. and Frederika Dohm. His
father was a native of New York State and his mother of Germany.
W. A. Dohm as a boy accompanied his parents to Wisconsin when that
was still a territory. Owing to the early death of his parents he became
head of the household at the age of sixteen, bore his responsibilities with
courage and fortitude and for many years lived the life of a capable
farmer and stanch citizen of Dane County. In early years the nearest
railroad point was Milwaukee, and he was one of many settlers who
carried the produce of the farm to that city to market.
John W. Dohm, one of ten children, all of whom are still living,
grew up on the homestead in Dane County, acquired a district school
education, and was graduated from the high school of Madison in 1905.
Then after some experiences chiefly connected with the home farm he
entered the engineering school of the University of Wisconsin in 1907.
He was graduated in 1911, and for several months following was
employed in the engineering department of the Northwestern Railway
Company.
Mr. Dohm came to Hibbing in the spring of 1912, and for seven
months was connected with the engineering department of the Oliver
Iron Mining Company. For about a year he performed similar services
for the Meriden Iron Company, and after that until 1916 was in the
engineering department of Hibbing village. In 1916 he organized the
Dohm Building Company at Duluth, and supervised the operations of
the company at Duluth until the fall of that year. He then returned
to Hibbing to perform some special engineering service for the village,
and in 1917 transferred the headquarters of the Dohm Building Company
1148 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
to Hibbing. This business succeeded that of Gust Linder, and for the
past three years the company had devoted all its facilities to the general
building and contracting business. Some of the work accomplished by
Mr. Dohm's organization includes the construction of the gas plant at
Hibbing, the village market and barn, the laying of concrete pavements
at Mountain Iron, the erection of an ore washing plant at Calumet, and
the building of the incinerating plant, greenhouse and administration hall
for the village of Hibbing.
Mr. Dohm is a member of the Commercial Club, is an independent
voter, and belongs to the Presbyterian Church and the Order of Elks.
On November 29, 1919, he married Irma M. Clarke, of Rice Lake,
Wisconsin.
John Curran is a native son of Minnesota, has long been active in
business affairs, and his career for a number of years past has been
closely identified with the village of Hibbing, not only as a merchant
but as one of the live and public spirited citizens of the community.
He was born at Gaylord in Sibley County, Minnesota, December 11,
1876, son of Martin and Mary (Manion) Curran. His parents were both
natives of Ireland. Martin Curran, who came to this country about
1851, possessed only an ordinary education, but exemplified stalwart
manhood and Americanism. He lived in Maine and the New England
states, but shortly before the outbreak of the Civil war moved out to
Hastings, Minnesota. While there he enlisted and served in the Union
army, participating in the battle of Lookout Mountain and through all
the Atlanta campaign. With the close of the war he located at Gaylord
in Sibley County, subsequently lived at New Ulm, and died there in 1917.
One of a family of seven children, John Curran grew up at Gaylord,
acquired a public school education, and after examination qualified for
teaching and for three terms followed that profession in country schools
in Minnesota. Since then the chief line of his experience has been mer-
chandising. He was a general merchant at Franklin, Minnesota, for about
seven years, but in October, 1906, came to Hibbing and engaged in the
grocery and meat market business on Pine street. His place of business
for the past six years has been at 709-11 Third avenue.
Mr. Curran has always taken a decided interest in community affairs.
While at Franklin he served as village recorder two years. In 1912 he
was elected a member of the village Council of Hibbing, and has been a
member of every successive council to the present. He has helped plan
and execute all the many improvements that have given Hibbing an
enviable reputation among the villages of the United States. Mr. Curran
is a Catholic in religion, an independent voter, and is a member of the
Hibbing Commercial Club. September 9, 1907, he married Miss Lillian
H. Miller, of St. Louis, Missouri. Their five children are Harry W.,
Dorothy H., Irene M., Catherine G. and John J. Jr.
Frank E. Downing. The industrial interests of northern Minnesota
are too important to permit of the employment in official positions of any
but the most expert of men in their several lines. To secure and hold
such positions and be able to meet and solve the numerous perplexing
problems constantly coming up the successful candidate for them finds
useful a technical knowledge gained through a university training, but
must have practical knowledge as well, and both of these requisites are
possessed, as well as others, by Frank E. Downing, assistant to the gen-
eral manager of the Shenango Furnace Company at Chisholm until he
recently moved to Gadsden, Alabama, and is now with the Cherokee Coal
and Iron Company.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1149
Frank E. Downing was born at St. Charles, Winona County, Minne-
sota, August 17, 1878. He is a son of Benjamin F. and Ida (Nichols)
Downing, farming people, and grandson of a New Hampshire born
and bred man, who in 1856 came to Winona County, Minnesota. After
he located a claim he returned to New Hampshire with the expectation
of taking his family back west with him, but contracted pneumonia and
died, leaving his ambition in this respect ungratified. In 1857, however,
his family carried out his wishes and moved to Winona County, and
there his son Benjamin F. Downing is still residing on the homestead
his father entered from the Government so many years ago.
One of the four children born to "his parents, all of whom survive,
Frank E. Downing was reared on this homestead and taught to be a
useful member of his community. He attended the local schools, com-
pleted the St. Charles High School course when seventeen years of age,
and in the subsequent winter taught his first and last term of country
school. For several years following this he worked at various occupa-
tions and attended the University of Minnesota, from which he was
graduated in 1904 with the degree of Civil Engineer. It was while he
was working his way through the university that he was employed on
Government surveying of the headwaters of the Mississippi River from
July, 1899, to September, 1900, and later as transitman for E. J. Longyear
on the Mesaba Range from October, 1901, to September, 1903.
After completing school work Mr. Downing was engaged in prospect-
ing for iron ore in Canada for E. J. Longyear until August, 1905. On
August 30, 1905, he was married to Alice Gaumon, of Minneapolis,
Minnesota, and that same year located at Hibbing as an employe of the
Meriden Iron Company, and served it as engineer until March, 1906,
when he became an engineer for the Oliver Iron Mining Company.
This work occupied him until September, 1908, when he was placed in
charge of the ore estimating department in the office of Mr. J. U.
Sebenius, general mining engineer in the Duluth office of the Oliver Iron
Mining Company, and retained this position until October 1, 1911, when
he came to Chisholm as chief engineer of the Shenango Furnace Com-
pany, and in March, 1914, became assistant to the general manager. Mr.
Downing is a member of the Duluth Engineers Club, the Engineers Club
of Northern Minnesota, the Minnesota Engineers and Surveyors Society,
and the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. He
and his wife are the parents of three children, Lewis B., Isabel M. and
Joan M.
Gust A. Apuli. Far from the place of his birth, in the fair Euro-
pean northland, Mr. Apuli has found opportunities for the achieving of
substantial and worthy success through his own ability and efforts, and
he is today one of the leading merchants of Mount Iron, Minnesota,
where he is engaged in the hardware and furniture business. He was
a young man when he came to America, and here his advancement has
been won by honest and earnest endeavor.
Mr. Apuli, the eldest in a family of eight children, was born in
Finland, December 29, 1869, and is a son of Karl and Susanna Apuli,
the father having been a farmer in Finland and there having passed his
entire life, and the mother is still a resident of that far distant land.
The subject of this sketch acquired his early education in the schools
of his native land and at the age of twelve years initiated his practical
experience by entering upon a virtual apprenticeship in the shop of his
paternal grandfather, who was a coppersmith by trade and vocation. He
remained with his grandfather seven years, and in the meanwhile became
1150 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
a skilled artisan at the trade noted. Ambitious and determined of pur-
pose, he then severed home ties and came to the United States, he having
been nineteen years of age at the time. On his arrival in this country
he made his way to the home of kinsfolk at Brainard, Minnesota, and
there he found employment in unloading coal cars on the Northern
Pacific Railroad, this arduous occupation having engaged his attention
during a period of thirteen months. The railroad company then sent
him to Staples, this state, where eventually he won promotion to the
position of inspector in the railroad yards. In August, 1890, he made
his appearance in the city of Duluth, where he soon found employment
with the Duluth Cornice Company, which assigned him to service in con-
nection with doing the sheet-iron work on the new union railway station.
Later he was engaged in similar work at Superior, Wisconsin, but in
November, 1890, became a clerk in the hardware store of A. C. Osborn
at Duluth, a position which he retained until the autumn of 1893. In
the fall of the preceding year he and five other young men journeyed
with team and wagon from Duluth to Mount Iron, and here he filed
entry on a homestead of 160 acres a few miles distant from the village.
He later perfected his title to forty acres of this homestead, and in the
meanwhile he had continued his service in the hardware store at Duluth
until the fall of 1893, after which he followed an independent business as
a sheet-iron worker until 1895. He then went to Bismarck, North Dakota,
where for three years he continued in the employ of the Hare & Holt
Hardware Company. In this connection he gained valuable experience in
and became a skilled workman at the plumbing and heating trade, and his
ambition led him also to devote his evenings to study, in connection with
which he took a special course in the celebrated International Correspond-
ence School at Scranton, Pennsylvania. One of his friends had at this
time charge of the plant of the Hughes Electric Company at Bismarck,
and in this plant Mr. Apuli passed many hours after the completion of
his regular work. The knowledge which he thus gained by close obser-
vation and study resulted in his being placed in charge of the plant when
his friend was transferred to another station. Within a month after he
had assumed this position the company sent him to the city of Fargo to
erect a new electric plant, and after completing this assignment he was
placed in charge of the new plant. In 1900 Mr. Apuli was appointed
superintendent of the electric plant of the North Pacific Railroad at
Brainard, Minnesota, where he retained this position two years. The
following years he passed as clerk in a hardware store at Eveleth, this
state, and he then came to Mountain Iron to take up the work of jacket-
ing engines for the Oliver Mining Company. In March, 1903, Mr. Apuli
here opened a small hardware store, and from this modest nucleus has
built up a substantial and prosperous hardware and furniture business,
with an establishment of the best equipment and service. He has become
one of the popular and influential citizens and business men of Mountain
Iron, where he has served continuously since 1904 as a member of the
municipal Board of Trustees, and as a director of the Board of Educa-
tion since 1907. He was village assessor in 1905-6 and also served two
terms as village treasurer. He is a Republican in politics, is affiliated
with the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and his wife are active
communicants of the Lutheran Church. During the nation's participation
in the World war Mr. Apuli had the active supervision of the first Young
Men's Christian Association drive at Mountain Iron, and was otherwise
loyal and influential in the furtherance of local war activities. While a
resident of Duluth he served four years as a member of Company H,
Thirteenth Resfiment, Minnesota National Guard.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1151
In the city of Duluth, in February, 1895, was solemnized the mar-
riage of Mr. Apuli to Miss Margaret Onhala, who likewise is a native
of 'Finland, and they have four children — Helmi S., Waino E., Carl A.
and John A.
Jonathan S. Henderson is essentially one of the progressive and
representative business men of the village of Mountain Iron, where he
successfully engaged in general contracting enterprise as senior member
of the firm of Henderson & Murphy, his coadjutor being Charles W.
Murphy, of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this
volume.
Mr. Henderson was born at Parker's Prairie, Minnesota, on the 24th
of November, 1877, and is a son of Hans J. and Mary Lulu (Hazen)
Henderson, the former of whom was born in the state of Pennsylvania
May 16, 1852, of Holland Dutch ancestry. The marriage of the par-
ents was solemnized November 8, 1870, and of the five children the
subject of this review was the second in order of birth.
Hans J. Anderson was nine years of age when his parents immi-
grated to America and established their home in the city of Chicago,
where he was given the advantages of the public schools. His loyalty
to the land of parental adoption was significantly shown when, at the
age of fifteen years, he ran away from home to enlist for service in
defense of the Union when the Civil war was precipitated. He became
a member of the Third Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, with which gal-
lant command he served three years and nine months — virtually the
entire period of the war. In later years his continued interest in his old
comrades was shown by his active affiliation with the Grand Army of
'the Republic. The major part of his active career was marked by asso-
ciation with farm industry, but he was engaged in the retail grocery
business at Mountain Iron, Minnesota, at the time of his death.
The initial educational discipline of Jonathan S. Henderson was ob-
tained in the district school near the old home farm at Parker's Prairie,
and later he attended the public schools of Henning and Wadena, Minne-
sota. When twelve years of age he found employment in cutting bands
on a threshing machine, and for this operative service he received fifty
cents a day. At the age of seventeen years he found employment 'in the
Minnesota Insane Asylum at Fergus Falls, where he remained about
eighteen months. For thirteen months thereafter he was employed on
a farm in North Dakota, and in 1898, at the inception of the Spanish-
American war, he enlisted for military service at Fargo, that state. He
became a member of the Third United States Cavalry, known as
Grigsby's Rough Riders, and continued in service for four months, but
his regiment was not called to the stage of active conflict. On the 20th
of November. 1898. after having received his honorable discharge,
Mr. Henderson entered the employ of his uncle at Bemidji. Minnesota.
where he engaged in hauling steel for the Red Lake Transportation Com-
pany. The following spring he went to Montana and engaged as a
teamster for the Hibner Construction Company, connected with railroad
construction work. In the autumn he became associated with building
operations at Cass Lake, Montana, in the employ of the firm of Claven
& Tanner, and in the winter of 1899 he entered the employ of A. B.
Hazen, proprietor of the old Merchants' Hotel at Bemidji, Minnesota.
He held the position of night clerk at this hotel until the following spring,
when he made his way to San Francisco, California, in which state he
was employed one year in the saw mill of N. W. Durney. He passed
the summer of 1901 as an employe on the S. S. Dudley farm on the
1152 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Wild Horse Indian Reservation in Oregon and in the following autumn
went to British Columbia and took the position of ax man with the
engineering corps that was surveying the branch line of the Great North-
ern Railroad from Jennings, Montana, to Elco, British Columbia. During
the ensuing spring and summer he was associated in the construction of
a telegraph line for the Great Northern Railroad from Spokane to Seattle,
Washington, and in the fall was transferred to Devil's Lake, North Da-
kota, and assigned to line work. In November,, however, he returned
to Bemidji, Minnesota, where he worked that winter on the homestead
farm of Doctor Morrison. During the following year he clerked in a gro-
cery at Bemidji, in which village he then purchased the Nicollet Hotel,
which he conducted eleven months. He then sold the hotel business
and again engaged as a grocery clerk. In 1905 he went to St. Paul,
where he clerked in a mercantile establishment about one year, at the
expiration of which he came to Mountain Iron, where he gave about
three months of service as a teamster for the Oliver Mining Company.
He next passed a similar period as steam-shovel fireman for the Pitt
Iron Mining Company, and after having been identified with other lines
of work for about two years he was engaged as a traveling salesman
in the handling of household goods about eighteen months. He then
returned to Mountain Iron, where he conducted a restaurant for six
months. He then sold this business, and within a few months there-
after was appointed chief of the police and fire departments of Moun-
tain Iron, with ex-officio service also as truant officer. He continued to
discharge these multifarious duties seven years, and for the ensuing years
was associated with his father in the grocery and meat market business
at Mountain Iron. In the autumn of 1917 he formed a partnership with
Charles W. Murphy and purchased the Mountain Iron Livery, which
they continued as a livery until the spring of 1920, when they turned
their attention to general contracting, in which field of enterprise they
have since continued with marked success.
In politics Mr. Henderson is independent of strict partisan lines, and
the year 1920 found him giving his fourth year of service as a member
of the municipal Board of Trustees of his home village, in the welfare
and advancement of which he takes loyal and vital interest. Mr. Hen-
derson is affiliated with the lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Virginia, as well
as with the camp of the Modern Woodmen of America at that place.
His religious faith is that of the Lutheran Church.
January 28, 1902. recorded the marriage of Mr. Henderson to Miss
Frances Helen Hoyt, who was born and reared in the state of Wis- 1
consin, and they have four children — Robert I., Beatrice A., Orville and
Dida H.
Charles W. Murphy, junior member of the firm of Henderson &
Murphy, which has developed and controls a substantial and important
general contracting business at Mountain Iron and which is one of the
representative business concerns of the great mining region of this section
of Minnesota, is a young man of ability and progressiveness and is
entitled to specific recognition in this publication.
Mr. Murphy was born at Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, on the 19th of
April, 1883, and is a son of Angus and Jane (Graton) Murphy, both
natives of the Dominion of Canada, where the former was born, in Nova
Scotia, on the 15th of October, 1848, and where the latter was born June
25, 1863, she having been but sixteen years of age at the time of her
marriage. Angus Murphy came to the United States about the year 1880,
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1153
and he was long identified with lumbering operations in Michigan and
Wisconsin. He served as foreman in the lumber districts, and he died on
the 3d of October, 1909, about twelve days prior to his sixty-second
birthday anniversary. His widow now resides at Hibbing, Minnesota,
and of their ten children, Charles W., of this sketch, was the fourth in
order of birth.
Charles W. Murphy acquired his early education in the public schools
of Chippewa Falls, where he also attended for one year a Catholic
parochial school. After leaving school he was for two years employed on
a farm in his native county, and for the ensuing three years was employed
by the Northern Lumber & Boom Company, for which corporation he
worked in the lumber woods during the winter seasons and in the lumber
yards during the intervening summers. From 1900 to 1905 he was
employed by this company in the vicinity of Ovet, Wisconsin, as a worker
in the lumber camp during the winters and in the saw mill in the summers.
During the following autumn and winter after leaving the employ of this
company Mr. Murphy held a position as brakeman on the Duluth &
Northern Railroad, and he then took a similar position with the Great
Northern Railroad, in which connection he continued his service until
February, 1906, the following year finding him similarly engaged with the
Mesaba Southern Railroad. During the summer and fall of 1907 he
worked as a brakeman on the railroad operated by the Oliver Mining
Company, with headquarters at Mountain Iron, and during the following
winter was similarly employed by the company at Gilbert. On the 6th of
April, 1908, he was appointed village marshal of Gilbert, artd of this posi-
tion he continued the efficient incumbent until the spring of 1910, when he
assumed a similar office in "the village of Coston. The following winter
found him in service as a conductor on the line of the Mesaba Southern
Railroad, and in the spring of 1907 he was appointed night patrolman at
Mountain Iron. He served in this capacity until 1915, and during. the
following winter owned and conducted a pool and billiard room at
Mountain Iron. In the following spring he entered the employ of William
Golden, who was engaged in the retail liquor business in this village, and
in the summer of 1917 he amplified his experience by purchasing and
conducting a confectionery store, which he retained about one year. In
the fall of 1917 he purchased the Mountain Iron Livery, in company with
Jonathan S. Henderson, and in the spring of 1920 the firm of Henderson
& Murphy withdrew from the livery business to establish its present thriv-
ing contracting enterprise. In the spring of 1919 Mr. Murphy purchased
a farm adjacentto the village, and he is developing this into one of the
excellent places of this locality. That he has secured place in popular
confidence and esteem in the community is shown by the fact that in 1920
he is serving his fourth consecutive term as president of the Village
Council of Mountain Iron. He is a stalwart Democrat in politics, and he
and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church. At Virginia he is
affiliated with the lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
At the time of the World war Mr. Murphy was a member of the com-
mittee which had charge of the various drives in support of the Govern-
ment war loans in this community, and was also chairman of the Local
Defense League.
On the 20th of November, 1909, was solemnized the marriage of
Mr. Murphy to Miss Elizabeth England, of Ashland, Wisconsin, and she
presides as the popular chatelaine of their pleasant home at Mountain
Iron. They have no children.
1154 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mountain Iron Public Library. With the spread of education and
the consequent growing taste for knowledge, the opening of a modern
public library in a community is a notable event. The benefits of a library
have been recognized from far olden times, ever since civilization and
culture moved hand in hand along the path of progress. Far back before
the art of printing precious manuscripts and hieroglyphics graven on wood
and stone were carefully preserved for the study and edification of the
learned, and, fortunately, for the perpetuation of historic annals. We
may be led to wonder, perhaps, concerning the types of students who took
advantage of the first public library on record, that established by the
philosopher Pisistratus at Athens in 357 B. C, and recognizing the urgent
call of the present day for more knowledge we may well believe there
were also in ancient times many who were profited thereby. Many of the
great libraries of the world, however, have been entirely closed to the
general public, and while their priceless manuscripts and heavv tomes
have been rich with learning, there has been afforded no key to this vast
accumulation of knowledge, entertainment and satisfaction that the humble
as well as the high could turn in the lock.
When the late Andrew Carnegie determined to donate a part of an
unusual fortune to the building of libraries it was in recognition of this
fact and memories of the inadequacy of library service that hampered his
own ambitious search for knowledge in youth. It will ever be impossible
to truly estimate the value of his philanthropy.
Among the many communities benefited through accepting the reason-
able terms of Mr. Carnegie in relation to establishing a library, Mountain
Iron, Minnesota, is now in the enjoyment of a public library second to
none in the country. It was opened in 1915, during the administration of
an able library board, of which Charles Walker was president and J. F.
Muench was secretary. It was built at a cost of $25,000, exclusive of the
site, $8,000 of which was donated by Andrew Carnegie. The architect
of this beautiful structure was Mr. Shand, and Mr. Sampson was the
contractor. On the main floor there is a general room, one side for adults
and the other for children, a reference room and an office. In the base-
ment, which serves as a community center, there is an auditorium, a men's
smoking room, a fully equipped kitchen and a magazine store-room. On
the library shelves are 6,000 books, a full line of both technical and fic-
tional magazines. In 1920 there were 871 active subscribers and 22,156
books were borrowed.
Since the opening Miss Stella M. Stebbins has been librarian. The
president of the Library Board is J. F. Muench, Esther Peltier being
secretary. The other members are C. A. Webb, P. Hagen, D. E. Burley.
T. Williams, P. J. Erickson, W. F. Anderson and Oscar Luhkarila, all
business men and reputable citizens. Deep interest is shown by the entire
community and the enterprise may confidently be declared one of great
and permanent benefit.
Percy A. Carmiciiael. It has been the privilege and fortune of
Percy A. Carmichael to realize many of his worthy ambitions and through
the exercise of energy and the acceptance of opportunities to attain suc-
cess in his chosen field of endeavor. Starting his career in boyhood in a
humble capacity, he has gradually worked his way up the ladder, and
today is superintendent of the Hobart Mine at Gilbert for the Hanna Ore
Mining Company.
Mr. Carmichael was born at Michigamme, Michigan, March 19, 1887.
a son of James Carmichael, who was born in Canada, and a grandson of
JAS. A. ROBB
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1155
Gilbert Carmichael, a native of Scotland. Gilbert Carmichael was a young
man when he immigrated to America, settling first in Canada, and then
coming to the United States and locating in northern Michigan, where his
death occurred. James Carmichael was engaged in the butcher business
for some years at Michigamme, whence he went to Calumet and followed
the same line, and then entered the employ of the Oliver Iron Mining
Company in the capacity of clerk. Through his brothers the name of
Carmichael is widely known in mining circles as belonging to early miners
and developers of mines on the Mesaba Range of northern Minnesota. In
1907 James Carmichael came to Hibbing, Minnesota, and worked as a
clerk in the clerical department of the Oliver Iron Mining Company until
his death in 1920. He was married at Michigamme, Michigan, to Louise
Croll, and they became the parents of three children, all of whom survive :
Irving, a consulting engineer at Winnipeg, Canada ; Percy A., and Ruth,
the wife of Walter H. Trenerry, of Duluth.
Percy A. Carmichael received a grammar and preparatory school edu-
cation, and at the age of fifteen years entered upon his independent career
as a clerk in the office of a lumberman in his home community. At
Hibbing, subsequently, he secured a position in the engineering department
of the Oliver Iron Mining Company, and continued to be identified there-
with for some seven years after which for seven months he was under-
ground foreman at the Mississippi Mine. Following this he was ore
inspector for the Great Northern ore lands, and when the Arthur Mining
Company inaugurated its safety plan Mr. Carmichael became their first
safety inspector. From this position he became captain of the Alex-
andria Mine at Chisholm, and in August, 1918, was made superintendent
of the Hobart Mine at Gilbert for the Hanna Ore Mining Company, a
position which he has filled capably to the present time. Mr. Carmichael's
experience has covered many phases of the mining industry, and his
thorough and comprehensive knowledge of various departments and
details makes him a valuable man to his company. He is energetic and
progressive, possesses the confidence of his superiors and the good will of
his men, and out of a busy and energetic life has gained that self-confi-
dence that comes through holding one's own in a hard struggle for
supremacy.
Mr. Carmichael is a Presbyterian in religious faith and in political
allegiance supports the Republican party and its candidates. He has not
sought public preferment, but is a good citizen and during the World war
period was one of the directors of the United States Defense League at
Gilbert and a director of the Liberty Loan campaigns. He belongs to the
Knights of Pythias, is a thirty-second degree Ancient and Accepted Scot-
tish Rite Mason and holds membership in the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Car-
michael was married October 14, 1919, to Miss Corinne Whitney, of
Clayton, Minnesota.
James A. Robb. Many causes contribute to the almost invariable
interest surrounding the early settlers in any community. As the years
lend distance and romance to their arrival the honor becomes a coveted
one, more especially if the settlement has utilized its most enlightening
opportunities and become the abode of peaceful and prosperous humanity.
A companion of the wilderness of early northern St. Louis County,
James A. Robb, one of the earliest of the pioneers of this part of the
state, has participated in the development and progress of "several towns
of the Mesaba Range, and since 1896 has resided at Eveleth, where he is
at the head of a prosperous fuel and building material business.
Vol. Ill — 15
1156 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
James A. Robb was born at Ottawa, Canada, May 9, 1863, a son of
John and Jane (Noble) Robb, natives, respectively, of Scotland and the
North of Ireland. The parents emigrated separately to Canada, where
they were married and where both died, leaving seven children. James
A. Robb was reared in Canada, where he received his education in the
public schools, and at the early age of thirteen years began caring for
himself. He began his career as a clerk in a general store in Canada, but
in 1884 came to Minnesota, where, at Tower, he went to work in a saw-
mill operated by the Minnesota Iron Company. He was compelled to
walk from Two Harbors over the railroad right-of-way, the road not then
having been completed, and when he arrived at Tower he found it but a
straggling mining camp. He was employed there until 1889, when he
went to Mesaba, the second town on the Mesaba Range, and continued
working in a sawmill. Later, with Frank S. Colvin, he opened a lumber
yard at Merritt, the first town on the Mesaba Range, but after a short
time went to Biwabik, which was then only a railroad point. In 1896 he
came to Eveleth, and has since been engaged in a flourishing fuel and
building material business.
Mr. Robb has been an integral part of the wonderful development of
northern St. Louis County. During his residence here he has seen the
country in its various stages of progress from a vast woods, filled with
Indians, packed with deer, moose, bear and other wild game, a fisher-
man's paradise, to a thriving center of industrial and commercial activity.
To those who took part in the early settlement of the county was vouch-
safed a wealth and diversity of experience beside which that of those
active in later years pales into insignificance. If the men of the rough
frontier suffered, they also lived, and their existence was turned to far
higher purpose than the mere getting and parading of wealth and its
luxuries. The country, while wild, was clean, and in those days a code of
honor prevailed which exemplified the straightforward qualities of the
men who blazed the way for those who came later.
Mr. Robb is independent in his political views, and has served capably
as treasurer of the Village of Eveleth and as a member of the School
Board. He has the distinction of having been made the first Entered
Apprentice Mason in the Masonic Lodge in Eveleth, and at present is a
thirty-second degree Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Mason and a
member of the Mystic Shrine, and also holds membership in the Benevo-
lent and Protective Order of Elks.
Mr. Robb was married at Biwabik, Minnesota, February 12, 1896, to
Miss Elizabeth Trevarthen, and they have three children: Florence J.,
John Albert and Thomas. Mrs. Robb is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Mr. Robb belongs to the Commercial Club and
Rotary Club of Eveleth.
John N. Carlson. In his evolution from a poorly-paid farm hand in
Iowa to the proprietorship of a flourishing mercantile business, John N.
Carlson, a pioneer merchant of Gilbert, supplies an inspiring example of
the compelling power of high ideals and the worth of homely, sterling
virtues. He was born in Sweden, February 26, 1874, a son of Carl J. and
Carrie Johnson, and after the manner and custom of his native land took
his father's given name, adding "son" thereto, thus making his name
Carlson.
Until he was twelve years of age, John N. Carlson lived in his native
land and attended school, and for four years thereafter was variously
employed. From a sister and several friends who had come to the United
States he kept receiving reports as to the opportunities obtaining in this
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1157
country for bright, ambitious and energetic youths, and in 1890, when he
was sixteen years of age, he crossed the Atlantic and went to Harcourt,
Iowa, where he secured employment on a farm. At this time he knew
nothing of the language, but during his first winter spent three months at
school, and this aided him to an understanding of the tongue, which was
furthered during the seven years of his employment on the farm. In the
fall of 1897 Mr. Carlson came to northern Minnesota and found employ-
ment at the old town of Sparta, firing and working on a steam shovel in
the old Genoa Mine of the Oliver Iron Mining Company. Later on he
also became a sampler of ores in connection with his other work.
In October, 1897, Mr. Carlson embarked in the haberdashery business
with a partner at Sparta, their combined capital being $500. Mr. Carlson
put in but a part of his time at the store and the rest of the time at other
work. In the spring of 1898 he worked as a carpenter on the first shaft
house built at the Sparta Mine, and also worked the pumping station for
the Village of Sparta. In the meantime the business had grown, and in
the fall of 1899 a hardware stock was added to the original line. In the
fall of 1901 a fire destroyed the possessions of the partners, resulting in a
serious financial loss, but, undiscouraged, they rebuilt their store and
resumed business, which prospered until 1908, when Sparta was sold to
the steel corporation.
In 1909 the business was removed to the new town of Gilbert, and
Mr. Carlson and his associates dissolved partnership, Mr. Carlson. at that
time commencing alone in the hardware, furniture and undertaking busi-
ness. He has continued in these lines to the present time, and has added
farming implements and other articles to his stock. These, in brief, are
the salient points in the career of a poor Swedish boy who had the courage
to leave his native land and seek his fortune and a home in the new world,
where through his own industry and ability he has won his way to inde-
pendence and a substantial business position. Mr. Carlson has a reputa-
tion for business integrity that extends beyond the limits of his immediate
community, and has fully discharged the duties of citizenship ever since
taking out his naturalization papers in 1896. He is a Lutheran in relig-
ious belief and in politics is a Republican. Fraternally he is affiliated with
the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of Pythias, the Knights
of the Maccabees and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Mr. Carlson was married February 18, 1903, to Miss Ellen Olson, a
native of Sweden, who came to the United States in girlhood, and they
have the following children : Arlin B., Dean Willard, Clinton John, Elea-
nor Caroline and Walter Myron.
David B. Cavan was born and reared in the atmosphere of the min-
ing districts of the Great Lakes region, and was one of those who early
used his opportunities to perfect himself in the technical branches of
mining, is a graduate mining engineer and now assistant general superin-
tendent for Pickands, Mather and Company of Cleveland in the Eastern
Mesaba District, his primary duties being at the Elba Mine at Gilbert.
Mr. Cavan was born at Atlantic Mine, Michigan, December 30, 1885.
His father, David Cavan, came from his native Scotland as a youth, and
was a pioneer in the copper region of the Northern Peninsula of Michi-
gan. He was a merchant there, later manager of the stores of the Atlan-
tic Mining Company, and exemplified all the Scotch instinct for business
shrewdness. He became an American citizen and died in 1899. His
wife was Susan Cook, and they reared three children.
David Cavan spent his early manhood in and around Houghton,
Michigan. He graduated from the high school of that city and in 1907
1158 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
finished the course of the Michigan College of Mines at Houghton. With
this technical education he came at once to the Mesaba Range, and has
been continuously in the service of Pickands, Mather and Company.
Until 1910 he was mining engineer at the Elba Mine, then until 1912,
assistant mining captain at the Elba and Corsica Mines, from 1912 to
1914 was mining captain of the Mohawk Mine at Aurora, was mining
captain of the Belgrade Mine at Biwabik from 1914 to 1917, and super-
intendent of the Bangor, Mohawk and Hudson Mines from 1917 to
1919. For the past two years he has been assistant general superin-
tendent of the entire district.
Mr. Cavan is a member of the Engineers' Club of Northern Minne-
sota and the Eshquaguma Club. During the World war he was captain
of Company C of the Minnesota Home Guards. He served two years as
a member of the School Board at Aurora, and has endeavored to make
his influence count as a g ( ood citizen, though for the most part his time
and energies have been completely absorbed in his regular business. He
is a member of the Episcopal Church, a Republican, and a Mason, and
in 1918 served as master of Biwabik Lodge No. 293.
On September 5. 1912, Mr. Cavan married Miss Alice Stanchfield.
Their two children are David and Ann Elizabeth.
Joseph Binney. The first scenes he looked out upon as a child
with conscious memory were those of a famous mining section in south-
western England, and Joseph Binney has had all the experiences of a
miner from boyhood, has been identified with every phase of mine opera-
tions, has mined coal as well as the metals, and for a number of years
past has been mining captain of the Elba and Corsica Mines at Gilbert
for Pickands. Mather and Company.
He was born in the parish of St. Clear. Cornwall, England, December
7, 1857, son of Henry and Mary Ann (Jay) Binney, who lived and died
in England. He was one of nine children, only three of whom are now
living. Growing up in his native country, with a modest period of school-
ing, he began work at the age of eleven in the copper ore mines of
Cornwall. He was twenty-three years of age when in 1880 he made his
first visit to the United States. At that time he came to the mining
district of the Great Lakes, being employed in the Osceola Mine at
Calumet, Michigan. Later he worked in the mines of Iron Mountain,
Michigan, and subsequently was employed to direct the operations of
sinking a shaft for an anthracite coal mine at Scranton, Pennsylvania.
In 1884 he went to New York city and for a time was foreman in tun-
nel construction while one of the great aqueducts was being built for
the city water supply.
Then following a brief visit to his home in England Mr. Binney
entered the service of the Pittsburg & Lake Angeline Company at Ish-
peming. Michigan, as a miner and later as shift boss. He came to the
Mesaba Range of northern Minnesota in 1902, and for eighteen consecu-
tive vears has been mining captain of the Elba and Corsica Mines oper-
ated by Pickands. Mather & Company. Captain Binney is one of the
oldest mining captains in point of continuous service on the Mesaba
Range, and is a man highly honored in his profession, enjoying the com-
plete confidence of his superiors as to his efficiency and technical judg-
ment, and also the friendship of those under him.
Captain Binney is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, with the Lodge of Foresters at Ishpeming. and is a thirtv-second
degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of Aad Temple of the
Mvstic Shrine. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1159
June 19, 1886. Mr. Binney married Louisa Stephens, of Tremar Comb,
Cornwall, England. Mrs. Binney died July 6, 1913, the mother of five
children, named Elsie. Maud, Louisa Jane, Harriet Ann (now deceased),
Thomas Henry and Celia May. Captain Binney's only son, Thomas H.,
was a corporal in the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth United States
Artillery. He saw service with his command in France and was mustered
out with an honorable discharge.
Leonard C. David. As a mining engineer few men in northern
Minnesota have had such a varied and eventful experience as Leonard
C. David, now general superintendent of the Eastern Mesaba District
for Pickands, Mather & Company.
The headquarters of this great corporation which he represents at the
Elba location are in Cleveland, and Mr. David was born in that city Octo-
ber 13, 1881, son of Herman and Bessie (Mayer) David. His father
was a native of Germany and his mother of Cleveland. Both parents are
now deceased. One of four children, Leonard C. David grew up in his
native city, graduated from the Central High School in 1899, and
acquired his technical education in the Case School of Applied Science.
He was graduated as a mining engineer in 1903.
His professional career covers seventeen years. The first two years
were spent as engineer at the Lorett'o Mine on the Menominee Range in
Michigan ; another year in the lead district of southwest Missouri ; and
in March, 1906, he came to the Mesaba Range in northern Minnesota.
For one year he was at Mountain Iron, engineer for the Oliver Iron Min-
ing Company, and during that time laid out the Stephens Mine at Colby,
had charge of the original drilling of the Norman Mine and the engi-
neering work at the Higgins and Mountain Iron Mines. A promotion
then put him at the operating end of the work as pit foreman of the
Mountain Iron Mine. Later he was made mining captain of the Hig-
gins Mine, and succeeding that was mining captain of the Norman Mine
of the Oliver Iron Mining Company.
In April, 1913, on the recommendation of the Oliver Iron Mining
Company, Mr. David was sent to Russia to be superintendent of the
Caucasas Copper Company's mines in Asiatic Russia. The great bank-
ing house of J. P. Morgan & Company was financially interested in these
properties, and he remained there two years, until the Turkish invasion
of the Caucasus Region in November, 1914, stopped the mining. t opera-
tions. From the beginning of the World war until it became absolutely
necessary for the staff of the company to make a sudden exodus more
or less excitement prevailed every day, though the staff members, com-
posed of English, Scotch and American, made every effort against great
odds to keep the mines and smelters in operation with a maximum pro-
duction of refined copper, so greatly and urgently needed by the Allies.
Mr. David returned to the United States on December 24, 1914, and
in February. 1915, was made mining captain of the Leonard and Alex-
andria Mines of the Arthur Mining Company at Chisholm, Minnesota.
Clement K. Quinn subsequently engaged him as general superintendent,
and in that capacity he developed properties which he had acquired on
the Cuyuna and Mesaba Ranges. August 1, 1918, Mr. David became
assistant general superintendent for Pickands, Mather & Company, and
November 15th of the same year was made general superintendent, the
office he has since filled. He is a member of the Engineers' Club of
Northern Minnesota.
Januarv 11, 1911. Mr. David married Miss Margaret Champion, of
Loretto, Michigan. They have two children. The older. May A., was
1160 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
born October 7, 1911. at Virginia, Minnesota. Tbe son, Lawrence J., was
born August 26. 1914. at Alexandrovsky, Russia. Mr. David is a
Republican, is a member of Eveleth Lodge No. 239. Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons, is a charter member of Virginia Chapter No. 77,
Royal Arch Masons, a member of Duluth Consistory No. 3 of the Scot-
tish Rite and Aad Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is a charter member,
of Sigma Alpha Epsilon college fraternity at Case School of Applied
Science at Cleveland, is a member of the Eshquaguma Club, and is inter-
ested in civic affairs, being a director of the Curling Club and director
of the Gilbert Commercial Club.
Frederick Barrett, M. D. An accomplished physician and surgeon
and public health leader. Doctor Barrett has lived in the mining districts
of northern Minnesota .since boyhood, and for over a quarter of a cen-
tury has practiced medicine and surgery. He was a medical officer in the
army during the World war.
Doctor Barrett, whose home is at Gilbert, was born in Liberty, Mis-
sissippi, September 17, 1875. His father, Frederick Barrett, Sr.. a native
of Pennsylvania, served as a Union soldier in the Eighty-second Pennsyl-
vania Infantry during the Civil war, and after the war became a revenue
officer in the south during the reconstruction period. He was also a
county superintendent of schools and private secretary to the governor
of Mississippi. After returning to the north he lived in Wisconsin until
1888. when he moved his family to Tower, Minnesota. He at once
became one of the influential men in the Iron Range. He published the
Vermillion Iron Journal, the Ely Iron Home, and was publisher of the
first paper at Merritt, the first town on the Mesaba Range. Though he
died at Duluth May 17, 1895, his name is still spoken with honor through-
out St. Louis County.
Dr. Frederick Barrett was twelve years of age when brought to
Tower, acquired a public school education, graduated in 1893 from Breck
College at Wilder, Minnesota, and began the study of medicine under
Doctor Harwood at Tower. In 1897 he graduated from Rush Medical
College in Chicago, following which he practiced at Tower two months,
six months in the Virginia Hospital, was associated with Doctor More
of Eveleth a year and a half, and for ten years was with his old pre-
ceptor. Doctor Harwood, in the Fayal Hospital. Since then Doctor Bar-
rett has practiced in Gilbert. While at Fayal he served two years as a
member of the Board of Supervisors of the township, was health officer
at Eveleth. and since coming to Gilbert has been deputy county coroner.
He was elected and for several years past has been president of the
village of Gilbert.
Doctor Barrett is a member of the County and State Medical Societies
and the American Medical Association. His experience and special
talents have brought him distinct fame as an obstetrician, and he has
prepared many papers on obstetrics for medical journals. He has been
the professional attendant at more than twenty-two hundred births.
Doctor Barrett was in the service of the Government in the Medical
Corps for thirteen months, first as lieutenant, then as captain, and after
the close of the war was commissioned major in the Medical Reserve
Corps. He received his medical officer's training at Fort Riley, Kansas,
and his chief duty was at Camp Lewis, Washington, where he had com-
mand of the Motor Ambulance Company in the sanitary train.
Doctor Barrett is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, is a
member of the Episcopal Church, and a Republican in politics. On
August 25, 1904, he married Edith Smith, of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.
He has one son, John Frederick.
c>
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DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1161
Fermanah P. Rutherford has been in the great mining district of
northern Michigan and northern Minnesota for over thirty years, and
has had an interesting variety of experience. For a number of years
past he has been chief clerk at the Elba Mine of Pickands. Mather &
Company for the Eastern Mesaba District.
The Rutherford family has a conspicuous record in war as well as
in peace. Three of Mr. Rutherford's sons were gallant soldiers in the
World war. The Rutherfords originally were Scotch, but for several gen-
erations the family have lived in the North of Ireland. His grandfather,
Adam Rutherford, served as an officer in the British army and partici-
pated in the battle of Waterloo. One of his great-grandsons just a cen-
tury later was wounded not far from the Waterloo battlefield. Adam
Rutherford late in life brought his family from Ireland to Canada. He
was a pensioner of the British Government and came to Canada to take
possession of a grant of land conferred on him by the British Crown.
His son, David Rutherford, was born in Ireland, and married Mar-
garet McKnight, a native of the same country. David Rutherford was
twelve years of age when his people came to Canada, and as a youth he
became a logger and for many years was engaged in lumber operations
in Canada. He and his wife are both deceased, but of their ten chil-
dren nine are still living.
One of these is Fermanah P. Rutherford, who was born at Owen
Sound, Ontario, April 14, 1868. He grew up in Canada, was educated
in public schools, also had a commercial course, and was eighteen when
he first came to the United States. His first employment was hauling
wood for a steam engine on the Gogebic Range of northern Michigan.
Then followed other occupations, including merchandising, service as
assistant postmaster at Ironwood, and as railroad messenger for the
United States Express Company on the Northwestern Railway.
At Ironwood, Michigan, October 13, 1892, Mr. Rutherford married
Francis Elkerton. For about six years following he operated a store at
Hurley. From that he entered the service of the Oliver Iron Mining
Company as clerk in the Tilden Mine at Bessemer, and then as cashier
of the Forest Mine near Iron Mountain. Mr. Rutherford came to
Eveleth, Minnesota, in 1902 as assistant chief clerk for- the Oliver Iron
Mining Company, and in 1907 began the duties he has since performed
as chief clerk at the Elba Mine for Pickands, Mather & Company.
His friends and associates know him as a man of vigorous action
and good citizenship. During the World war he was a member of the
Minnesota Home Guards and is still a member of that organization,
which performed some valuable service in wartime in suppressing sedi-
tion. From 1908 to 1919 he was clerk of the Mesaba Mountain town-
ship, and since 1910 has been a member of the Board of Directors of
Independent School District No. 18. Mr. Rutherford is a Republican,
an elder in the Presbyterian Church, is the fifteenth to hold the office of
worshipful master of Eveleth Lodge No. 239, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, and is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows and the Knights of Pythias.
The three sons and one daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rutherford are
Harold McKnight, Cyril F., D. Dewey and Jean. This was one of the
few families in northern Minnesota to contribute all its sons to the war.
Harold was in the Twenty-seventh Engineers, Dewey, in the One Hun-
dred and Twenty-sixth Regiment of Infantry, while Cyril was in the
British army. The first two saw active service in France. Harold, who
held the non-commissioned office of sergeant, was twice wounded in the
engagement at Vilesnes-sur-Meuse when within the German lines.
1162 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Norris J. Colvin has been a member of the Range country of north-
ern Minnesota for twenty-eight years, has seen practically all the pioneer
development of several sections, and has been a busy factor, achieving
definite success for himself and contributing something to the welfare
of his community. He has been a resident of Gilbert for twelve years,
practically since the beginning of the village, and is an executive officer
in one of the largest lumber, fuel and building material concerns in this
part of the state.
He is a native of Minnesota, born near Monticello March 13. 1870,
one of seven children, four of whom are still living. His parents were
Jacob James and Anna Eliza (Griswold) Colvin. His father in early
life was a school teacher and farmer, and later a carpenter. While
working at his trade in the erection of some of the large terminal build-
ings in Kansas City he was accidentally killed in 1885. His widow is
still living and now makes her home at Los Angeles, California.
Norris J. Colvin has been a life-long resident of Minnesota. When
he was four years of age his parents moved to Anoka, where he attended
the graded schools. He was fifteen when his father died, and soon after-
ward the family moved to Duluth and later lived in other places. For
several years Norris Colvin was at Minneapolis in the employ of a large
carpet concern.
His association with the Range country began in October, 1893. at
Biwabik, where his brother was in the lumber business in partnership
with James A. Robb. Later the business was incorporated as the Colvin-
Robb Lumber Company, Norris Colvin becoming an official of the corpo-
ration. A reincorporation was effected in 1916 under the title of the
Northern Lumber & Coal Company. This business is now a widespread
commercial enterprise conducting seven yards, at Aurora, Biwabik,
Eveleth. Hibbing. Gary and Gilbert in Minnesota, and at South Superior
in Wisconsin. Norris J. Colvin has been the firm's representative at
Gilbert since the spring of 1908, and he established a yard and sold some
of the first lumber and building material used in the pioneer construc-
tion of the town. Altogether his life on the Mesaba Range has been
coextensive with the principal period of development in this section. As
a good business man he has been looked to for leadership in Gilbert.
He is a Republican, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is affili-
ated with the Knights of Pythias.
On August 20. 1902, Mr. Colvin married Miss Clara West, of Gales-
burg, Illinois. Their children are Francis West. Marion Ruth, Betty
Elizabeth and Clara Louise.
Carlton A. Webb, the efficient and popular station agent for the
Duluth, Missabe & Northern Railroad in the village of Mountain Iron,
claims the fine old Gopher state as the place of his nativity, he having
been born at St. Paul, the capital city of Minnesota, on the 24th of Feb-
ruary, 1885. His father, Isaac W. Webb, was born at Salem, Ohio, and
became a pioneer settler in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, where he took
up his residence in the year 1852 and became bookkeeper in the Ameri-
can House, one of the early hotels of the capital city. Later he became
one of the principals in the firm of Cook & Webb, which established
and operated an omnibus line in that city, and finally he purchased a
large tract of land near Crookston, this state, and instituted the develop-
ment of a farm. Eventually he returned to St. Paul and engaged in the
real estate business. Both he and his wife died in St. Paul. Mrs. Webb,
whose maiden name was Edna Parker, was born at Wheeling, Illinois,
of English parentage.
L
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1163
Carlton A. Webb, the youngest in a family of nine children, gained
his early education in the public schools of St. Paul, where he was
graduated in the Mechanic Arts High School as a member of the class
of 1905. Thereafter he was employed about one year as clerk in the
office of the Gotzin Shoe Company at St. Paul, and for the ensuing two
years held a clerical position in the general offices of the Great Northern
Railroad in his native city. After learning telegraphy he was assigned
by this company to the position of telegraph operator at Buhl, and about
four months later was transferred to Virginia, St. Louis County, where
he served as cashier at the Great Northern Station for one year. During
the ensuing three years he was station agent at Bovey, and he then
accepted the position of relief agent in the service of the Minnesota
& Northern Railroad. In September, 1913, he came to Mountain Iron,
where he has since continued in effective service as station agent for
the Duluth, Missabe & Northern Railroad, with all departments under
excellent systematization and with service that marks him as a most
efficient executive and one whose personal popularity is of unequivocal
order. Mr. Webb has taken loyal interest in the welfare and advance-
ment of Mountain Iron, where he served two terms, 1915-17, as village
clerk, was elected village president in March, 1921, and has served as a
member of the municipal finance committee and as a valued member
of the Board of Education, of which he was a director in 1918, chair-
man in 1919, and of which he is clerk at the time of this writing, in
1920. He is a Republican of independent proclivities, is a thirty-second
degree Mason and a member of Aad Temple, Ancient Arabic Order
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Duluth. He and his wife hold mem-
bership in the Presbyterian Church. In the World war period Mr.
Webb gave every possible aid in furtherance of the Governmental loan
drives in St. Louis County by personally taking subscriptions for the
loans and the savings stamps and by active membership in the Defense
League.
July 20, 1910, recorded the marriage of Mr. Webb to Miss Ethel
G. Wescott, who was born at Altoona, Wisconsin, of Scotch and English
lineage, and their one child, Edna Grace, was born February 15, 1913.
John C. McGilvery. For a number of years John C. McGilvery
has figured prominently as a lawyer, public official and man of affairs
in the Iron Range district of northern Minnesota. He has had a large
law practice, and has also played an important constructive part in
the business and civic affairs of this section of the state. He was
appointed justice of the peace in 1898, and the Governor of the state
appointed him the first municipal judge at Eveleth. For two years he
was United States commissioner, has served as village attorney for
Aurora, Biwabik, Gilbert and Costin. is now village attorney of Leonidas,
and is in his third term as attorney for the city of Eveleth. He was
attorney for the Charter Commission of Eveleth when the commission
form of government was inaugurated.
Mr. McGilvery is a stockholder and vice president of the Miners
National Bank of Eveleth, and has some very extensive realty, interests
in St. Louis and other counties. He is a Republican, a Presbyterian,
is an active member and for three years was president of the Eveleth
Commercial Club, and is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks.
William W. Weber, M. D., is a young man whose character and
ability have given him distinct prestige as one of the representative
physicians and surgeons of St. Louis County, and he is engaged in the
1164 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
successful practice of his profession at Mountain Iron. In addition to his
private practice, which is of substantial order, he is associated in a pro-
fessional way with the Shaw Hospital at Buhl. He was in service as
a member of the medical corps of the United States Army at the
time of the nation's participation in the World war, and prior to coming
to Minnesota he had unusual experience both in his present profession
and in connection with educational affairs.
Dr. Weber was born at Iowa City, Iowa, on the 26th of March, 1887,
and is the eldest of the four children of William W. and Clara (Harring-
ton) Weber, the former of whom was born at Baltimore, Maryland,
July 5, 1862, and the latter of whom was born near Williamsburg,
Iowa. November 15, 1867, she being a representative of one of the
sterling pioneer families of that section of the Hawkeye state. The
parents of Dr. Weber still reside in Iowa City, where the father is
living virtually retired after many years of application to the sturdy
trade of blacksmith.
In the public schools of his native city Dr. Weber continued his
studies until his graduation from high school in 1906, and thereafter
he was for two years a teacher in the Institute Americano at La Paz,
Bolivia, where he was retained by the Bolivian government to assist in
instituting American educational methods in the schools of that South
American nation. Upon his return to his home city, the seat of the
University of Iowa, Dr. Weber entered the medical department of that
institution, where he continued his technical studies three years. He
was then tendered and accepted the position of house physician at the
hospital of the Medical College of Kansas City, Missouri, in which
institution he became a member of the senior class and continued his
medical studies while acting also as house physician at the hospital
and as demonstrator of anatomy in the college. He was graduated
from this college as a member of the class of 1912. and after thus
receiving his degree of doctor of medicine he engaged in the private
practice of his profession at Leon, Kansas. In the summer of the fol-
lowing year he transferred his field of professional work to Hartford,
that state, where he continued in practice until August 19, 1917, when
he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the medical corps of the
United States Army and assigned to Fort Riley. Kansas, to receive pre-
liminary training. There he remained until the 21st of January, 1918,
when he was honorably discharged, owing to physical disability. It
was a matter of extreme regret to him that he was not permitted to
continue his service in connection with the military activities of his
country in the climacteric period of the World war.
In April, 1918, Dr. Weber received appointment to the staff of Shaw
Hospital at Buhl, Minnesota, where he initiated his effective service
in the following month and where he remained until June. 1919, when
he engaged in private practice at Mountain Iron, though still continuing
his association with Dr. Shaw at Buhl. He has charge of the medical
and surgical work at the mines in the vicinity of Mountain Iron, besides
which his general practice is of representative order. He is health officer
at Mountain Iron, and also official phvsician of the village schools. The
Doctor is an active member of the St. Louis County Medical Society,
the Minnesota State Medical Society and the American Medical Associa-
tion. He is affiliated with the Epsilon Chapter of the Phi Alpha Gamma
medical college fraternity, and also with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
March 27, 1912, recorded the marriage of Dr. Weber to Miss Delia
E. Morrison, who was born in the State of Oklahoma, and they have
three fine little sons — W'illiam M., Donald P. and fohn L.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1165
Frank W. Canute, who holds the responsible position of master
mechanic for the Hanna Mining Company, eastern district, with residence
and business headquarters at Mountain Iron, was born at Berlin, Michi-
gan, on the 30th of June, 1872, and is a son of George H. and Mary M.
(Schell) Canute, both natives of the state of New York, where the former
was born in the year 1830 and the latter in 1838. Their son Frank is the
fourth in their family of seven children.
Frank W. Canute gained his early education in the public schools of
his native state and was graduated in the Traverse high school as a mem-
ber of the class of 1889. During the summer seasons he had worked in
the lumber mills while still attending school, and after leaving the high
school he was employed in the saw mill operated by his father, this asso-
ciation continuing until about the year 1891. Thereafter he was employed
about eighteen months in the Michigan Orphan Asylum at Traverse City,
and later was employed in various saw mills in that section of the
Wolverine state. Finally he became engineer of a locomotive on a logging
railroad, in the employ of A. F. Anderson & Company at South Borden,
Michigan, and in February, 1906, came to Crookston, Minnesota, where
he was given night charge of the saw mill of the Crookston Lumber Com-
pany. In the following spring the company transferred him to Folds,
this state, and assigned him to the position of locomotive engineer on
the logging road. After thus serving about one year he was for two
months employed by Cook & O'Brien at Virginia, Minnesota, and in the
following summer had charge of the erection of two small rotary mills
at Angora. There he continued in charge of sawmill operations for
Clifford Sherman until the following spring, when he took the position of
foreman for the Keewadin Lumber Company, with which he thus con-
tinued his connection at Ontario to the following November. He next
gave about eighteen months of effective service as sawyer for the Inter-
national Lumber Company at International Falls, for which corporation
he constructed hoists and a lumber camp.
In July, 1912, Mr. Canute removed with his family to Mountain Iron,
his family having in the meanwhile resided at Virginia, and it was at this
time that he entered the employ of the Hanna Mining Company at the
Brunt Mine. He was first assigned to the charge of the steam plant of
the drying establishment, which was then in course of construction, and
in the winter of the same year went to Baudette, Minnesota, to assist in
the erection of a mill for the Engler Lumber Company. In May, 1913,
he returned to the Brunt Mine, where he was in charge of the work of
the repair crew until the close of the ensuing winter. In the spring he
was placed in charge of the drying plant, to which he gave his attention
for the following two years. In the spring of 1916 he was appointed
master mechanic for the eastern district of the Hanna Mining Company,
and of this position he has since continued the efficient, valued and popu-
lar incumbent. He is one of. the prominent and public-spirited citizens of
Mountain Iron, where he is serving as chairman of the Board of Educa-
tion. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the
Knights of the Maccabees, and in politics is a Republican, though not
constrained by partisan lines in local affairs. During America's participa-
tion in the World war he was an active executive and worker in connection
with the Liberty Loan drives and had charge of the Victory Loan drive
in the Hanna Mining Company's eastern district.
May 3, 1893, recorded the marriage of Mr. Canute to Miss Alice M.
Elliott, of Bay City, Michigan, and they have one child, Harry D., who is
now employed as a locomotive engineer in connection with his father's
department of business activities.
1166 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Stanley A. Mahox is a young man whose sterling character and
marked executive ability need no further voucher than the statement that
he is assistant general superintendent of the Hanna Mines, eastern district,
with residence and official headquarters at Mountain Iron.
Mr. Mahon was born at Minden City, Michigan, on the 14th of
December, 1884, and is a son of Edward and Sophia (Geek) Mahon, the
former of whom was born at Tilsonburg. Province of Ontario, Canada,
in 1844, of English and Irish lineage, and the latter of whom was born
in the city of Rochester, New York, in 1859, her ancestral lines tracing
to English and German origin. The marriage of the parents was solemn-
ized in 1880, and their son Stanley is the second of their three children.
The father was twenty years of age when he came from Canada to the
United States, where he became a naturalized citizen. The major part
of his active career was given to farm industry.
After having duly profited by the advantages offered in the public
schools of his native village Stanley A. Mahon completed a course in the
Ferris Institute, an excellent preparatory and business school at Big
Rapids, Michigan, in which he was graduated as a member of the class
of 1906. For six months after leaving school he was employed as a
diamond drill man for the Longyear and Hodge Company in the iron
mines of northern Michigan, and thereafter he was similarly employed
in connection with construction' work on the great New York aqueduct
until 1908. With a well ordered ambition and determination to further
his technical education Mr. Mahon then entered the Michigan College of
Mines at Houghton, and in this celebrated institution was graduated as a
member of the class of 1911 and with the degree of Mining Engineer.
For six months after his graduation he held the position of assistant cap-
tain of underground operations at the American Mine of the M. A. Hanna
Company on the Marquette Range, and the ensuing six months found him
employed in the concentrating plant of this company. He then went to
Nashwauk and engaged in experimental work at the LaRue Mine, where
he remained until the autumn of 1914. He then entered the service of the
Wakefield Iron Company at Wakefield, Michigan, where he served as
ground captain one year. For two years thereafter he was again asso-
ciated with the LaRue Mine, first in connection with rebuilding opera-
tions and later in charge of the concentrating plant. Thereafter he opened
and had charge of the Hobart Mine at Gilbert, Minnesota, and in 1918 he
assumed the professional and executive office of which he is now the able
and valued incumbent. In January, 1919, the Hanna Mineral Company
sent him to Georgia to assume the position of superintendent of a pyrites
mine, and soon after completing his service there he resumed his position
in Minnesota, where he is superintendent of the Pilot, Hobart, Fay, Sliver
and Brunt Mines. Mr. Mahon has gained high rank in the technical and
practical work of his profession and is a prominent figure in connection
with the iron mining industry in this section of Minnesota.
AtHibbing, this state, Mr. Mahon maintains affiliation with York Rite
bodies of Freemasonry, and in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, he is affiliated
with the Scottish Rite and also the Mystic Shrine. In politics he is an
independent Republican and he is a Protestant in religious faith. At the
time of the World war he signified to the Government his willingness to
enlist for active service, but the authorities decided that his services were
of greater value in connection with the productive enterprise with which
he was identified. He, however, gave most vigorous and loyal co-opera-
tion in the furtherance of local war activities and made liberal subscrip-
tions to the various Liberty Loans and other war agencies.
TIL!
1/2* £/c?644 /ctZctsO^**^
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1167
On August 2, 1916, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Mahon to Miss
Aileen Hunter, of Akeley, Minnesota, she being a representative of a
family whose name has been long and worthily identified with American
annals. Mr. and Mrs. Mahon have two children : Phyllis, born June 22,
1917, and Stanley A., Jr., born June 30, 1919. The pleasant family home
is at Mountain Iron, and Mrs. Mahon is a popular factor in the social
life of the community.
Marvin V. Van Buskirk. The career of the late Marvin Van
Buskirk was one in which his experiences were varied and interesting,
carrying him into strange and unexplored parts of the country and bring-
ing him eventually to a well-earned success and the respect of his fellow
citizens. This pioneer of the Mesaba Range, whose death occurred at
Eveleth January 22, 1904, was born at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, December 23,
1851, and that city continued to be his home until he was about eighteen
years of age. His early life was spent much after the manner of the'
average boy of his day, although perhaps he was permeated with a greater
love of adventure than were the most of his companions. He excelled
in mathematics, and because of this fact assisted the surveyors to a con-
siderable extent, and also worked in a sawmill, and by reason of his
industry and ability was advanced to the post of manager.
In the early days of the Gogebic Range of northern Michigan, Mr.
Van Buskirk spent two years there as a timber cruiser, and during this
time lived with the Indians, learned their language, and was given the
name of "Mokineese." For a time he had charge of some logging camps,
and then became the first white settler of Crystal Falls, Michigan. On
December 15, 1883, he married Anna Harding, a native of Madison, Wis-
consin. At Crystal Falls, Mr. Van Buskirk learned the painter's trade,
and after working at that vocation for a time became the first chief of
police of his town. Following this, he devoted some time to exploring,
and while thus engaged, in 1890, came to what is now the site of Eveleth,
although at that time such a place did not exist. After being employed
as a prospector for a time, in 1893 Mr. Van Buskirk brought his family
to Eveleth, and their first home here was a tent, while the last stage of
their journey, from Auburn, had to be made on a single trail, as the road
was still incomplete. Shortly afterward Mr. Van Buskirk had a log cabin
erected for his family, and this continued as their home for some years.
Mr. Van Buskirk put in the greater part of his time during this period
in exploring, but he also devoted a part of his time to the painting trade.
He also had charge of test pits and tramped over practically the entire
surrounding country, being employed as an explorer by all the well known
men of the Range. When Eveleth began to assume the importance of a
metropolis he was elected the first village president, and likewise became
the first chief of the local volunteer fire department.
Mr. Van Buskirk was a man of marked characteristics. He was quiet,
inoffensive and unassuming, but a man of unquestioned courage. He had
a wonderful faculty of making and retaining friends, to whom, when
occasion offered, he was generous to a fault. In fact this peculiarity was
so marked that it was often taken advantage of by the unscrupulous as a
means to defraud him of honest and hard earned money. He contributed
with more than ordinary liberality to the support of all good causes, and
while he was not a member of any religious denomination he had a
devout reverence for sacred things. Late in life he organized a local body
of men and as the representative of this body went to Idaho and selected
timber claims for the individual members. At the present time these
properties have greatly enhanced in value. Mr. Van Buskirk was a
1168 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Republican in politics. He and his widow, who survives him, had eight
children, all of whom survive.
Anthony John Van Buskirk, the eldest son of Marvin V. and
Anna (Harding) Van Buskirk, was born at Crystal Falls, Michigan,
November 5, 1890, but his entire life, practically, has been passed at
Eveleth. When his people came here he was the only boy in the little
community, and as he grew up he attended the public schools, being grad-
uated from the Eveleth High School with the class of 1909. For a time
he was employed in a clerical capacity by the Miners National Bank,
subsequently being timekeeper in the mines and later shipping clerk, etc.
He became deputy city clerk in 1916, and served as such by appointment
until January 6, 1920, since which time he has been city clerk. He has
been very active in local athletics and has been instrumental in keeping
athletic sports alive in his town. In 1908 he became a charter member of
Company F, Minnesota National Guard, and in 1915 was commissioned
a lieutenant of this organization by the Governor and sent to the Mexican
border, where he remained seven months. He resigned his commission
at the end of that time, but subsequently served as captain of a local motor
corps and also helped train troops for the World war.
Mr. Van Buskirk, who has a number of important connections at
Eveleth, is unmarried and resides at home with his aged mother.
John Glode has been well known in the life of the Range country for
nearly thirty years, as landlord of two of the popular houses of public
entertainment for nearly a quarter of a century, but for several years
past has been the efficient chief of police of the city of Eveleth.
Arthur G. Kingston is one of the real pioneers of the Range country
in northern Minnesota, having been identified with the section for the
past thirty years. He was a merchant for a long time, but finally turned
his resources and personal initiative to what might be called the conserva-
tion side of mining operations, and has demonstrated a high degree of
profit and production through his operations.
Mr. Kingston, whose home is at Eveleth, is a native of Minnesota,
born in Goodhue County, May 15, 1857. That date indicates that the
family were territorial pioneers of Minnesota. His father, DeWitt
Clinton Kingston, was born in Michigan and first came to Minnesota in
1855. In 1858 he settled in the state permanently. He married Mary
Jane Holiday. DeWitt C. Kingston pre-empted land in Goodhue County
and went through all the experiences and hardships of pioneering, ran
the risk and dangers of Indian depredations and was a real frontiersman.
One of eight children, Arthur G. Kingston, had to adapt himself to
the limitations of a home of thrift and meager circumstances in the
northwest. He lived on his father's farm to the age of thirteen, in the
meantime attending district school in winter, and has been a worker ever
since he had sufficient age and strength to be assigned regular duties.
From the age of thirteen to seventeen he employed his time more or less
regularly as a clerk. At seventeen he went into business for himself at
Northfield, and in 1882 became a merchant at Fisher, Minnesota, where
he was located until he came to the Iron Range district at Tower in
July, 1891. Mr. Kingston was a merchant at Tower for nine years, and
since 1900 his home and headquarters have been at Eveleth, where he
continued in merchandising for about four years.
He then invested his capital and enterprise in contracting, owning and
operating a steam shovel outfit at the mines. He has done mining at
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1169
several of the old works in the Iron Range district. In several cases he
has taken contracts to strip where previous operations had all been by
the underground method of mining. In fact, he was identified with the
pioneer stripping operations, and has demonstrated the safe and profitable
side of that strictly modern feature of ore mining.
In 1915 Mr. Kingston organized the Kingston Mining Company, and
since then organized the Rutland Mining Company and the Fault Mining
Company. These concerns are operating two mines at Eveleth and one
at Chisholm, also one near Mesaba, and the business is one employing
on an average 150 men. Mr. Kingston has worked a large force con-
tinuously for the past fifteen years.
Politically he is an independent Democrat. While living at Tower he
served as a member of the City Council. He is a member of the Presby-
terian Church and the Commercial Club of Eveleth. In October, 1877,
he married Lestina Lovering. They have two sons, William A. and
Merton, and one daughter, Lina, Mrs. R. M. Cornwell.
Charles R. McCann, of the contracting company of Lawrence &
McCann, Eveleth, is one of the substantial business men of St. Louis
County who has helped to make several communities progressive and
enterprising centers of the mining industry. Strangers visiting Eveleth,
Gilbert, Biwabik, Aurora and other towns of this locality are impressed
at once with the substantial condition of the streets, alleys, sewers and
water works — unfailing evidence of prosperity and good management —
and for these municipal virtues Mr. McCann is largely responsible, as his
firm is an extensive contractor in these lines.
Mr. McCann was born'at Springdale, Iowa, January 26, 1884, a son
of Harry and Delilah (Maxson) McCann, the former a farmer and later
a blacksmith by occupation. One of four children, Charles R. McCann
was reared at Springdale, where he was graduated from the high school
in 1903, at which time he entered the engineering department of the Iowa
State University at Iowa City and was graduated in 1907. He began his
business career in the employ of a general contractor at Minneapolis, but
three years later transferred his activities to Duluth, where he entered the
service of Pastorer & Lawrence, with whom he remained for about two
years. In January, 1913, was organized the firm of Lawrence & McCann,
and for a year James H. Lunz was a member of the concern. The
company began business at Eveleth, and has continued here ever since, its
offices being in the First National Bank Building. They confine their
activities largely to doing contract work in road grading and paving, city
street and alley work of all kinds, water works and sewers and general
construction connected with these lines. Their work has included all the
paved streets of Eveleth, Gilbert, Biwabik and Aurora, and they have
likewise extended their activities to Virginia, Mountain Iron and Buhl,
having also constructed sewers and water works for these places.
Mr. McCann is a member of the local Commercial Club, is a Knight
Templar and York Rite Mason, a thirty-second degree Ancient Arabic
Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine, and a member of
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was married January 6,
1912, to Miss Delia Edna Worrall, of West Branch, Iowa, and to them
five children have been born : Dorothy, Joseph, Margaret, Katherine (who
is deceased) and Barbara. Mr. and Mrs. McCann are members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church.
William R. Van Slyke has been a resident of the Range country in
northern Minnesota for the past fifteen years, is a mining engineer by
1170 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
training and profession, and has responsible duties in connection with the
mining interests grouped at Eveleth, his home.
Mr. Van Slyke was born at New Paris, Indiana, April 18, 1883. His
grandfather, William Nelson Van Slyke, was a pioneer of northern Ohio
and a ship carpenter by trade. William R. Van Slyke is a son of Rev.
William M. and Josephine (Suman) Van Slyke. His father was a
Methodist minister and spent the years of his active career in the
itinerant and pastoral work of the church.
William R. Van Slyke grew up in northern Indiana and southern
Michigan, attending the public schools in several localities. He was a
student in the engineering department of the University of Michigan
one year, and acquired his technical education by three years in the
Michigan College of Mines at Houghton. Soon after graduating in
June, 1905, he came direct to Eveleth, and has performed the duties of
assistant engineer and fee agent for various estates. Since 1910 he has
been the engineer in active charge of fee interests at Eveleth.
Mr. Van Slyke is a member of the Engineers Club of Northern Minne-
sota, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers,
belongs to the Rotary and Commercial Clubs of Eveleth, and has taken
an interest in all movements for conimunity welfare. Since July, 1917,
he has been a member of the Eveleth School Board.
Victor E. Essling is not only one of the representative younger
members of the bar of St. Louis County but also has the distinction of
being mayor of the vigorous little city of Eveleth at the time of this
writing, in the spring of 1921. Still further interest attaches to his
status in the community by reason of the fact that he claims Minnesota
as the place of his nativity. He was born at St. Peter, Nicollet County,
this state, on the 15th of May, 1891, and is a son of Joel E. and
Magdalena M. (Schulz) Essling, both of whom were born in Sweden.
Magdalena M. Essling was a resident of Nicollet County at the time of
her death, when comparatively a young woman, and her husband subse-
quently contracted a second marriage, he being now a resident of
St. Peter, Minnesota. Joel E. Essling was a son of Gustaf Johnson, but
the ancient custom governing family names in Scandinavia was abandoned
by this family upon coming to the United States, where the patronymic
was changed to the present form, Essling, Gustaf Johnson immigrated
to this country in 1866 and established the family home in the vicinity of
St. Peter, Minnesota, where he became a pioneer homesteader, landholder
and farmer, St. Peter having at that time been under favorable considera-
tion in connection with being chosen capital of this commonwealth. He
obtained Government land by homestead, and lived up to the full tension
of the pioneer days, when advantages were meager and when Indians
were still numerous in the county where he established his home.
The childhood and early youth of Victor E. Essling were compassed
by the activities and influences of the old home farm, and in the public
schools of his native county he continued his studies until he was gradu-
ated in the St. Peter High School as a member of the class of 1909.
Subsequently he there continued his studies in Gustavus Adolphus
College, spending one year along academic lines preparing himself for the
profession of his choice. He entered the St. Paul College of Law, in
which he continued his studies two years, in the night classes. He then
successfully passed the state examination and was duly admitted to the
Minnesota bar in February, 1915. He immediately came to St. Louis
County and initiated the practice of his profession at Eveleth, where since
October, 1919, he has been a member of the representative law firm of
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1171
Essling & Trost, with offices in the Miners National Bank Building. The
firm controls a substantial and important law business, and the senior
member has gained secure status as a resourceful trial lawyer and well
fortified counsellor. When the nation became involved in the World war,
Mr. Essling entered the military service, but the armistice brought the
war to a close before he could be sent with his command to the stage
of conflict.
The mayor of Eveleth is a staunch advocate of the cause of the
Republican party, is a valued member of the Eveleth Commercial Club, is
affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, is a communicant of the Swedish Lutheran Church, in
which he still holds membership in the church at St. Peter, Nicollet
County. He was elected mayor of Eveleth in November, 1919, and has
given a most vigorous, progressive and satisfactory administration.
July 9, 1914, recorded the marriage of Mr. Essling to Miss Marjorie
M. McGrath, and they have two children, William Warren and Mark
Theodore.
Charles Jesmore, the efficient postmaster of Eveleth. has in his
administration fully justified his appointment to this office in the Gov-
ernment service, and he is a man who commands the unqualified esteem
of the communitv which he thus serves. He was born at Oswego, New
York, November 15, 1850, and is a son of John and Victoria (DeLoram)
Jesmore. The father, who had long been identified with farm enterprise,
removed in the '70s to Saginaw, Michigan, where both he and his wife
passed the remainder of their lives.
Charles Jesmore, the fourth in order of birth in a family of five chil-
dren, gained his early education in the schools of the old Empire state,
and he was but thirteen years of age when he made a surreptitious depart-
ure from the parental home and found employment as a driver on the
tow path of the Erie Canal. When fifteen years of age, just prior to the
surrender of General Lee at Appomattox, he had enlisted for service as
a youthful soldier of the Union in the Civil war, but the war having thus
closed he was never mustered in.
In 1867 Mr. Jesmore made his way to Michigan and found employ-
ment in connection with the great lumber industry, which was then at its
zenith in that state. He worked in the logging camps and sawmills in
the northern part of Michigan for ten years, and in 1877 became a pioneer
of St. Louis County, Minnesota, where for several years he gave much
of his time and attention to assisting settlers in making their locations.
In this early day he assisted also, as a foreman, in the construction of
the road from the little village of Tower to the Itasca county line, the
road running along the Bear River. He recalls with pleasing memory
that the country hereabouts was then the home of all kinds of wild game
in great numbers, including deer, moose, bear and the smaller game ani-
mals and game birds, the while the waters of the locality teemed with
the finest of fish.
Mr. Jesmore became associated with O. W. Sanders in logging opera-
tions, in which they continued one year, Mr. Jesmore having within this
period taken out the first timber on Willow Creek. During one winter
he put 8,000,000 feet of logs into Longyear Lake at Chisholm. This
timber was taken from the site of the present McKinley Mine.
It was in the year 1889 that Mr. Jesmore made his initial appearance
in the Mesaba Range country, where mining operations were just begin-
ning to assume important proportions. In January of the following year
he established his residence at Eveleth, then a mining camp of some six
Vol. Ill— 16
1172 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
or more buildings, and here he opened the McNinnis Hotel, the first in
the town. This hotel building now stands at the southeast corner of
Grant avenue and Jackson street and is a landmark of the early days.
Mr. Jesmore conducted the hotel about eighteen months, and in the mean-
while opened and conducted a livery barn. He continued the livery busi-
ness until 1914. At the time of the memorable gold rush to Gold Island
he established a bus line to operate from the head of Vermillion River
to Crane Lake, and he developed a large and rushing business in trans-
porting passengers to the new field until the discovery of gold in the
Klondike overshadowed completely the pretentious gold discoveries of
St. Louis County, Minnesota.
For a long period of years Mr. Jesmore has been a prominent and
influential figure in the political activities of this section of the Gopher
state, and his secure place in the confidence and good will of the com-
munity has resulted in his being called to various positions of distinctive
public trust. He served one term as president of the Village Council
of Eveleth, and had the distinction of being elected the first mayor after
the place had gained its city charter. At the expiration of his term he
was twice re-elected, and he gave a characteristically vigorous and pro-
gressive administration. In 1914 he was appointed postmaster of
Eveleth. and of this position he has since continued the valued and hon-
ored incumbent. He has been a loyal and zealous factor in the sup-
porting of the various measures and undertakings that have conserved
the material and civic development and upbuilding of Eveleth ; his political
allegiance is given to the Democratic party, he is actively affiliated with
the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and he
and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church.
In 1890 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Jesmore to Mrs. Matilda
(Johnson) Murray, and their only child is a daughter, Ruth Marian.
By her former marriage Mrs. Jesmore has two children — David Allister
Murray, and Mamie, who is the wife of Alexander King.
Edwin J. Collins was born May 28, 1875, in Greenland, Michigan,
and is the son of Lawrence Collins, who for many years was successfully
engaged in the mercantile business, and of whose two children Edwin J.
is the younger. He received his public school education at Greenland,
Michigan, and then entered the employ of the Calumet and Hecla Min-
ing Company at Calumet, Michigan, being employed for five years as a
machinist and four years as a draughtsman. He graduated from the
Michigan College of Mines at Houghton in 1903. In 1905 Mr. Collins
became superintendent of the Wolverine and Arizona Mine at Bisbee,
Arizona, serving as such until his appointment as general manager of
the Nevada Smelting and Mines Corporation, which position he held until
1908. in which year he came to Duluth and opened an office as consult-
ing engineer. Since that time he has gained a wide and flattering reputa-
tion as a reliable and able engineer, his business relations extending
practicallv over the United States. Canada and Mexico.
Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic Order, the Ancient Arabic
Order Nobles of the Mvstic Shrine and. socially, of the Kitchi Gammi
Club, the Commercial Club, the Kiwanis Club and the Northland Country
Club. On January 10. 1905. Mr. Collins was married to Edith M. Cook,
and to them have been born four children, three of whom are living.
Mr. Collins is a public-spirited man. aiding in the upbuilding of his com-
munity in any way, and he possesses those sterling qualities of character
which commend themselves to persons of standing and intelligence.
ASIC
TILD
CHARLES TRENGOVE
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1173
Charles Trengove, master mechanic at the Elba Mine for the East-
ern Mesaba district for Pickands, Mather & Company, has been asso-
ciated with the mining industry practically since he was twelve years of
age, and his father was one of the men whose names should be preserved
in history for some of the first work of discovery and exploration in the
mineral sections of northern Minnesota.
The Trengoves are a family whose original seat was in Cornwall,
England, a country primarily devoted to the great mining industry.
Charles Trengove was born there February 27, 1856. His father was
John Trengove. John and three brothers were men of remarkable
stature, each standing six feet three inches in stocking feet. All served
as members of the Queen's Life Guard. Aside from his military record
John Trengove was a practical miner and an expert in many phases of
the mining industry. The British Government once sent him to Cuba
to look into mining possibilities on that island, and he spent eighteen
months there. Later he was sent to the United States on a similar service.
It was during this time, more than sixty years ago, that he made his first
visit to St. Louis County, Minnesota, a remote and almost unsettled
district. With Joseph Bice, who afterward married his sister, John
Trengove built a shack where No. 1 shaft of the Spruce Mine at Eveleth
now stands. John Trengove subsequently returned to England and mar-
ried Mary Drundry. Soon after his marriage he returned to the United
States and joined the mining camp at Marquette, Michigan. With that
as his headquarters he made some exploring expeditions, and on one
occasion discovered a silver lead mine. In the meantime he had sent to
England for his wife, and she joined him with her son Charles, who was
born during the absence of the father in America. John Trengove oper-
ated his silver lead mine for a time, and subsequently was in the lumber
business at Ripley, Michigan, making that his home for many years. He
finally removed to New York city, where he died.
Charles Trengove grew up in Michigan, had only a common school
education, but by self study and practical experience has acquired all
the varied expert knowledge used in the mining industry. He was in
his twelfth year when he began picking silver in the old Franklin Stamp
Copper Mill. Under John Funkey, master mechanic of a foundry at
Ripley, he learned the machinist's trade, and remained there as a jour-
neyman for a time. He next became a locomotive fireman on the Mineral
Ridge Railroad, and in a comparatively short time was advanced to the
post of engineer, and served in that capacity about seven years. One of
his earlier experiences was eighteen months at Butte, Montana, where
he was an engineer on the Montana Union Railroad. He remained there
until the collapse of the Anaconda Mines, when with scores of others he
was thrown out of .work without a moment's notice. Mr. Trengove came
to northern Minnesota at Tower in September, 1887, a third of a century
ago. After a few months spent in the mine shops he was made superin-
tendent of the Tower & Soudan Street Railway, and subsequently fol-
lowed his trade as a machinist. While in that capacity he erected the
first steam plant at Tower. Still further variety was given to his expe-
rience when for three and a half years he carried mail for the United
States Government between Tower and what is now International Falls.
He took the first mail sack by contract to International Falls, and also
drove the first team of horses to that location.
He gave up mail carrying to become master mechanic of the Spruce
Mine at Eveleth, but since 1900 has been master mechanic for the Elba
Mine, and is one of the oldest men in the service of Pickands, Mather
& Company in the Mesaba district. Mr. Trengove is a Royal Arch
1174 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mason, a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of Aad
Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and his family are Presbyterians. During
the World war he was a deputy sheriff of St. Louis County, and was one
of the local men who took a firm stand for the Government against occa-
sional outbreaks of sedition.
Mr. Trengove was also represented in the World war by a soldier son.
September 18, 1880. he married Miss Minnie Gundry. The three chil-
dren born to their marriage are Harley G.. Stanley Alvin A. and Florence
M.. wife of William Rutherford. The soldier was Stanley Trengove.
who was a member of the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Infantry.
He was in the service twenty-three months and ten days, most of the time
in France, and his discharge paper shows that he participated in five
battles. While never wounded, he was gassed.
I
Charles B. Hoel. president of the Miners National Bank at Eveleth,
has by his own ability and well directed course made for himself a place
of no insignificant prominence fn connection with the banking activities
of his native commonwealth. He was born on a farm near Stephen,
Marshall County, Minnesota, on the 23d of April. 1883. and is a son of
Edward P. Hoel, whose father. Peter P. Hoel, was born in Norway and
who became a pioneer settler in Minnesota, where he developed a pro-
ductive farm and stood exemplar of loyal and sterling citizenship.
Edward P. Hoel has been prominently concerned with agricultural indus-
trv in Minnesota for many years, has achieved worthy success and high
communal standing, and he and his wife, whose family name was
Sanderson, still maintain their home in Marshall County.
Charles B. Hoel gained his full quota of experience and hard work
in connection with the development and general activities of the old
home farm, and his early educational advantages included those of the
public schools at Park Ridge. In the pursuance of higher education he
entered Luther College at Fergus Falls, and in this institution he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1898. Thereafter he held for some
time a clerical position in a bank at Mcintosh, Polk County, where later
he served as assistant postmaster. In 1902 he established himself in the
retail grocerv and meat-market business at Eleveth, and with this line of
enterprise he here continued his active association four years. He then,
in 1906, assumed the position of bookkeeper in. the Miners National
Bank, and in 1908 was promoted to the post of assistant cashier. His
executive ability, personal popularity and faithful service continued to
give him increasing prestige in connection with the affairs of this repre-
sentative financial institution, of which he became casher in 1911. vice
president in 1917, and president in January, 1920. He has been a resource-
ful factor in the upbuilding of the substantial and representative business
of this banking institution, and as its chief executive is giving a careful
and well-ordered administration, based on prior experience, thorough
knowledge of the requirements of the community and safely progressive
policies. Mr. Hoel takes loyal interest in everything pertaining to the
welfare of his home city, and is one of its liberal and progressive citizens
and representative business men. He is a Republican in politics; he and
his wife are communicants of the local parish of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, and he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternitv and the Bene-
volent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a valued member of the
local Commercial Club and the Rotary Club. He is a member of the
Eveleth Board of Education and of the Board of Trustees of the Eveleth
Public Librarv. In the period of the World war he was chairman of
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1175
the local War Savings Stamp organization and was influential also in
other war activities in this community.
On the 25th of September, 1911, was solemnized the marriage of
Mr. Hoel to Miss Lillian Perkins, of Pine City, Pine County, and their
only child is a daughter, Elizabeth Jane.
Charles N. Hollans. In such men as Charles N. Hollans there is
peculiar satisfaction in offering their life histories — justification for the
compilation of works of this character — not that their lives have been
such as to gain them particularly wide notoriety or the admiring plaudits
of men. but that they have been true to the trusts reposed in them and
have shown such attributes of character as entitle them to the regard
of all.
Charles N. Hollans was born on October 10. 1884, in Ogdensburg,
New York, and is the son of William Hollans. who was a native of Den-
mark and whose death occurred at Ogdensburg in 1903. The father after
coming to this country, located at Ogdensburg, and that was his home
during the remainder of his life. He was a gunner in the United States
Navy and was a veteran of the Civil war. Later he became a machinist
and mechanical engineer, which vocations he followed during the
remainder of his active life. Of the twelve children born to him and his
wife Charles N. of this sketch was the ninth in order of birth, and three
of these children are still living.
Charles N. Hollans received his educational training in the public and
grammar schools of Ogdensburg. He spent four years of his early life
with his father, working at the machinist's trade, spent four years as an
assistant engineer on the Great Lakes, and then as chief engineer up to
1917. He returned to Duluth, where he had formerly lived, and became
connected with the American Bureau of Shipping, with offices in the
Palladio Building, with which he remained till his death. Mr. Hollans
was thoroughly qualified by training and experience for that business and
achieved a pronounced success in it, enjoying the respect and esteem of
all who knew him. Mr. Hollans died February 16. 1921, of septic
meningitis.
On the 17th of January, 1916, he was married to Zelma Moyer, the
daughter of William F. Moyer, and they had a daughter, Kathryn, born
on August 6, 1917. The Hollans family move in the best social circles
of their city and are extremely popular among their acquaintances.
Edward J. Hawley. Years of experience in any certain line enables
a man to render an efficient service and to produce results impossible to
one without practical knowledge. Edward J. Hawley, engineer of Hib-
bing, is one of the expert men in his line, and under his skillful superin-
tendence the village is securing a service many a city much larger would
be glad to have. Mr. Hawley is a native of Wisconsin, having been born
at Green Bay June 17, 1879, a son of Thomas and Mary C. (Creig)
Hawley, both of who are natives of Ireland. Each came separately to
the United States, were married in this country, and lived at Green Bay,
Wisconsin, where the father operated as a steamboat captain. He died
in that city in 1898, and there his widow continues to reside, being an
aged lady of eighty-four years.
Edward J. Hawley was the tenth born in a family of eleven children,
nine of whom are still living. He was reared at Green Bay. Wiscon-
sin, and was graduated from its high school course in June, 1898. For
some time thereafter he worked at engineering and similar jobs, and
then entered the Wisconsin State University and was graduated there-
1176 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
from in 1908 as a civil engineer. That same year he came to Hibbing
and was a mining engineer for the Shenango Furnace Company, and later
for the Oliver Iron Mining Company and the Stevenson Iron Mining
Company, continuing in this line until 1913, when the village of Hibbing
secured his services as its engineer, and he has since devoted his energies
to the responsibilities of that position.
On September 28, 1910, Mr. Hawley was united in marriage with
Emma A. Howlett, of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Mr. Hawley is a Roman
Catholic. He belongs to the Knights of Columbus, the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks, the Engineers' Club of Northern Minnesota,
the Duluth Engineers' Club, the Minnesota Engineers' and Surveyors'
Society, the American Association of Engineers and the Commercial
Club. It is to men like Mr. Hawley that Hibbing owes its wonderful
prosperity. By insuring to its residents all of the comforts and luxuries
of a metropolitan community many have been induced to locate here who
possess ample means, and their money has been invested in local enter-
prises. Mr. Hawley's own interests are centered at Hibbing and he is
proud of the place and his own part in developing it.
James Cameron Hartness, who is engaged in active professional
work as a mining engineer of marked technical skill and experience,
maintains his residence at Eveleth, and aside from his professional ability
and high standing in the community there is no little distinction attend-
ing him by reason of his having given gallant service with the American
Expeditionary Forces in France at the time of the late World war, in
which he gained the rank of major. He was associated with Bo we
& Burke, miners and shippers, for about one year and is now practicing
as consulting engineer. He has maintained his headquarters at Eveleth
since 1910. During the greater part of the intervening period he has
been employed professionally by the fee owners of ore property in the
mineral range of northern Minnesota, besides which he has done an
appreciable amount of independent work along engineering lines. He is
an active member of the Rotary and Commercial Clubs of Eveleth and
the Engineers' Club of Northern Minnesota. In the Masonic fraternity
he has received the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and is
identified with the Mystic Shrine, besides which he is affiliated with the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and with the American Legion,
his religious faith being that of the Presbyterian Church and his political
support being given to the Republican party.
James Cameron Hartness was born in the city of Detroit, Michigan,
August 2. 1882, and is a son of Rev. Jacob Van Ness Hartness and
Marion G. (Cameron) Hartness, his father having been a clergyman of
the Presbyterian Church. Major Hartness was a child when his father
assumed a pastoral charge at Lansing, the capital city of Michigan, and
there the son continued his studies in the public schools until his gradu-
ation in the high school at the age of eighteen years. For a year there-
after he taught in district schools near Marquette, Michigan, in which
city his parents had established their home in 1900. After his pedagogic
service Major Hartness was for eighteen months a student in Alma Col-
lege at Alma, Michigan, and thereafter was for several months employed
as an electrician at the blast furnace of the Pioneer Iron Company at
Marquette. He then entered the Michigan College of Mines at Hough-
ton, and in this institution was graduated in 1906, with the degree of
Bachelor of Science and Engineer of Mines. For the ensuing five years
he was engaged in professional work in the mining districts of Arizona
and California, where he gained valuable experience in connection with
Kjy^ZAsOuijL*^
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1177
gold, silver and copper mining. In 1910, as already noted, he became a
resident of Eveleth, Minnesota, and of his professional activities since
that time due mention has been made in a preceding paragraph of this
context.
When the nation became involved in the World war Major Hartness
subordinated all other interests to tender his services to the Govern-
ment. In May, 1917, he entered the First Officers' Training Camp at
Fort Snelling, and. later he continued his training at Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas. Thereafter he was assigned to the Three Hundred and
Thirteenth Engineers and was stationed about one year at Camp Dodge,
Iowa. On the 5th of July, 1917, he received his commission as captain
of engineers, and in October of the following year gained the rank of
major of engineers. He arrived in France September 1, 1918, his com-
mand being a part of the Eighty-eighth Division, a division that for one
month held the front line of trenches in the Belleforte sector in Alsace.
It was while in this hazardous service at the front that Major Hartness
received his commission as major. After the signing of the armistice
he remained in France until June, 1919, when he sailed for home, his
honorable discharge being received by him on the 17th of that month at
Camp Dodge, Iowa.
On the 20th of April, 1912, was solemnized the marriage of Major
Hartness to Miss Maude Tubbs, of Minneapolis, and their only child is
a daughter, Helen. Mrs. Hartness is a popular figure in the representa-
tive social life of the home community and is a communicant of the
Protestant Episcopal Church.
John C. Richards. In his chosen profession Mr. Richards has found
and developed a definite individual potential and effectively proved the
consistency of his choice of vocation. He is one of the able, successful
and popular mining engineers of the Mesaba Range district of northern
Minnesota, with residence and professional headquarters at Virginia,
where his offices are in the First National Bank Building.
Mr. Richards was born in the city of Detroit, Michigan, September
26, 1883, and is a son of James W. and Nettie (Hogue) Richards, the
former of whom was born at Cleveland, Ohio, and the latter at Cincinnati,
that state, their home at the present time being in the city of Duluth,
Minnesota, and their children being three in number.
John C. Richards was a lad of seven years at the time of the family
removal to Duluth, and there he continued his studies in the public
schools until his graduation in the high school as a member of the class
of 1904. Thereafter he was for two years a student in the University
of Minnesota, and he then entered the Michigan School of Mines at
Houghton, in which admirable technical institution he continued his
studies three months and effectively fortified himself for the practical
work of his chosen profession. In the autumn of 1906 Mr. Richards
proceeded to Hibbing, Minnesota, and became an engineer for the Carl-
son Exploration Company, his duties involving the locating of properties,
the making of plans for drilling and general exploitation of these projects,
the estimating on bodies of ore, etc. After two years of effective service
in this important capacity he emancipated himself from such direct asso-
ciation and became a freelance in the work of his profession. At this
time he established his residence at Virginia, and here he has since con-
tinued in the active pursuit of his profession, in which he has done a
large amount of important service and gained a most comprehensive
knowledge of mining properties and prospects in this extensive and
important field. For several years past he has also been superintendent
1178 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
of the Knox. Midget and Cavour Mines. He is a member of the North-
ern Minnesota Mining Engineers' Club and of the Rotary Club of Vir-
ginia. In the Masonic fraternity he is a Scottish Rite Mason. In his
home city he is an appreciative and popular member of the lodge of
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. A staunch Republican, he has
assisted in the promotion of the party cause in his resident district, and
in January. 1918, became a member of the City Council of Virginia, in
which position he continues to serve at the time of this writing.
May 7. 1913. marked the marriage of Mr. Richards to Miss Lillian
B. Go wan, of Duluth. and she was summoned to the life eternal on the
26th of December. 1919. She is survived by four children — Ann. William
Andrew. Mary Henrietta and John Carver, Jr.
Bertram S. Adams, M. D. One of the institutions that round out
and give symmetry to the community and public life of Hibbing is the
Adams Hospital, which was opened in June, 1902. and has been continu-
ously under the direct supervision of Dr. Bertram S. Adams.
Doctor Adams is the grandson of a physician. Dr. Henry Dwight
Adams. Bertram S. was born at Racine, Wisconsin. November 10, 1875,
a son of Henry Kirk and Frances (Sage) Adams. Henry Kirk Adams
moved to North Dakota in 1882, and for many years was active in banking
at Lisbon in that state.
Doctor Adams lived at Lisbon, North Dakota, from the age of seven
until he attained manhood, graduated from high school, and completed
a thorough and liberal education in the University of Minnesota prior to
training for his profession in the same institution. He graduated in
medicine in 1901, and in the meantime served as an interne in St. Barnabas
Hospital in Minneapolis. After graduation he was assistant for one year
to Dr. Charles W. Bray in his hospital at Biwabik in St. Louis County,
and then in June, 1902, located at Hibbing and established the Adams
Hospital in a building specially erected for the purpose and representing
every mechanical facility and equipment of the up-to-date modern insti-
tution. Doctor Adams came to Hibbing primarily to take charge of the
health work among the miners in the mines controlled by Joseph Sellwood.
Doctor Adams has served as chairman of the Village Board of Health
of Hibbing, is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member
of the St. Louis County and State Medical Societies and the American
Medical Association, and fraternally is a Scottish Rite Mason and Mystic
Shriner, a member of the Order of Elks, the Algonquin Club, the Curling
Club, and the Presbyterian Church. In politics he supports the Repub-
lican party. In 1903 Doctor Adams married Miss Vida Brugger, of
Minneapolis. Their four daughters are Eleanor, Priscilla, Elizabeth
and Sage.
Fred H. Holladay formed his first connection with Hibbing and with
the widely known contracting firm of Winston-Dear Company in 1906.
He has been in that locality and with that one firm ever since, and from
one of the minor employes has risen to the responsibilities of vice presi-
dent of the company and general manager of its extensive operations.
Mr. Holladay is a native Virginian. He was born at Buckner, Vir-
ginia, June 15, 1877, a son of Fred H. and Janet Collins (Garrett)
Holladay. His father served as a Confederate soldier, was a planter, later
a grain commission merchant at Richmond, Virginia, and he and his wife
spent all their lives in Louisa County, where she died in 1889. He retired
from active business in 1915 and died in Norfolk, Virginia, in February,
1919. For two terms he was a member of the Virginia State Legislature,
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1179
representing Louisa County. Of their family of eight children five are
still living.
Fred H. Holladay grew up at Buckner, Virginia, and his early educa-
tion was directed by a private tutor at home. Later he attended high
school at Louisa, and subsequently private schools, and his first business
experience was as a loose leaf tobacco buyer and exporter with the
E. G. Moseley Company at Danville, Virginia. Mr. Holladay came west
in 1899, and at Minneapolis entered the service of Winston Brothers in
connection with their contracts for railroad construction work in various
northwestern, eastern and southern states. In 1906 he was sent to
Hibbing, Minnesota, to take charge of the Winston-Dear Company's
offices on open pit mine stripping work, where he expected to remain
about eight months, but instead has found his permanent home and
business energies centered in this community. In 1910 he was made
superintendent of the stripping of the Burt Mine. During 1912-13-14-15
was superintendent of the stripping of the Dunwoody Mine at Chisholm,
was then transferred as superintendent of the stripping operations of the
Webb Mine, and superintended ore loading from the Susquehanna Mine
at Hibbing. In 1917 he was promoted to general manager of the Winston-
Dear Company operations, and in 1920 became a vice president of the
corporation.
Mr. Holladay is a member of the Christian Church, is a Scottish Rite
Mason, an Elk, and a Southern Conservative Democrat in politics, and as
such votes the Republican ticket often. On October 26, 1915, he married
Miss Laura Downton Hall, daughter of Dr. W. A. Hall of Prairie du
Chien, Wisconsin. Their two children are Constance Downton and
Sally Garrett.
William Neilon came to the Range country of northern Minnesota
more than a quarter of a century ago, and except for the first few years
has continuously been identified with the fire fighting service, first at
Hibbing and for the past thirteen years at Eveleth, where he is now chief
of the fire department.
Mr. Neilon was born at Bridgeport, Connecticut, June 22, 1871, but
has spent most of his life in Wisconsin and Minnesota. His father,
Patrick Neilon, was a native of Ireland, during his youth removed to
England, where he married Ellen Daily, and about a year later they
immigrated to the United States. Mr. Neilon was an engineer in a paper
making establishment near Bridgeport, Connecticut, and from there
brought his family west to Escanaba, Michigan, where he became fore-
man of the railway roundhouse. Giving up his trade, he became a farmer
in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, and he and his wife spent their last
years in Marinette County in that state.
One of a family of twelve children, William Neilon had to contribute
something to the support of the large household as soon as his strength
and abilities became sufficient. As a boy at home he attended the common
schools. When about sixteen he began his real career as a saw mill hand
at Marinette, Wisconsin. Mr. Neilon was twenty-two years of age when
in 1893 he came to Hibbing, Minnesota. For several years he was in the
service of the Longyears as explorer under John Bush. He then entered
the Hibbing fire department, and in 1907 was invited to come to Eveleth
to break in and train horses for the fire department of that city. He has
been continuously identified with the department ever since, and in 1908
was made chief. He has disciplined and developed a high class fire fight-
ing force, and it now has splendid equipment and the service is one of the
most adequate found in any city of the size in Minnesota.
1180 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Neilon is a Catholic, a member of the Elks Lodge and belongs to
the International Association of Fire Engineers. In 1912 he married
Loretta Kent. Their three living children are Laverne, William and
Elizabeth.
Edward C. Booth. It is a remarkable fact that the men who do the
most for education are those who themselves have lacked ordinary
advantages. Still, after all, their attitude is not so wonderful, because
having had to go through life without the knowledge which comes of an
education they appreciate just what such a lack means to the ambitious
boy or girl and exert themselves as they grow older to awaken the inter-
est of their community to the supreme value of public education upon
an extensive scale. Edward C. Booth, who was superintendent of the
buildings and grounds for Independent School District No. 27 at Hib-
bing, was one of the self-made men of St. Louis County. At an age
when the majority of children are tenderly cherished by loving parents
he was left to the cold mercies of strangers, and from the age of fourteen
was self-supporting. Yet, after all, perhaps this vigorous training had
its advantages, for in him it developed a sturdiness of character, a self-
reliance of spirit and a thorough appreciation of the dignity of honest
labor and the value of intelligent thrift.
Edward C. Booth was born at Oswego, New York, September 6,
1857, a son of Elliott Le Grand Booth, a livestock dealer of New York,
who came of English ancestry. He enlisted in the Union army for
service during the war between the North and the South, and lost his
life in that conflict. His widow, whose maiden name was Celia Fitch,
remarried, her second husband being Cyrus Henderson. When only
seven years old Edward C. Booth had to live among strangers, who took
care of him only until he was fourteen years of age. In his early years
he was bereft of parental love and care and, as stated, his educational
opportunities were very limited. In 1871 he drifted out to Fond du
Lac County, Wisconsin, and there worked as a farm hand until he was
twenty-two years old. Attention then, in 1879, was being directed toward
the territory of Dakota, and he went over the border into that portion
now known as North Dakota, and was living there at the time the state
was created. For five years he was deputy sheriff of Barnes County.
At the time he was in office the county was new and lawlessness was
prevalent, and it took a man of fearless character and intense courage
to enforce the law.
About 1883 Mr. Booth returned to Wisconsin, and was engaged in
carpenter work at Superior until 1905, when he came to Hibbing. He
first worked in the Buffalo and Susquehanna Mines as a carpenter, build-
ing the office and shaft houses, and did this at a time when the mines
were newly opened. After about a year he was given charge of the
old Center street school building, and was ever afterward connected
with the schools of this district. Later he was employed to look after
all of the buildings and grounds and rendered such valuable service that
the utmost reliance was placed upon his judgment and recommendations.
Mr. Booth died May 2, 1921, after an illness of a year.
In 1883 he was married to Amelia Zingg, and nine children were
born to them, namely: Laura E., who is Mrs. DeLoss Hall; Edward
Stanley ; Lida, who is Mrs. Arthur J. Trudeau, a widow ; Elwood ; Olive,
who is Mrs. John Williams ; Elliott ; Helen, who is Mrs. Thomas Eldred ;
Norman; and Gladys, who is Mrs. K. P. Anderson. Mr. Booth be-
longed to the Episcopal Church. He was a member of the Masons,
Odd Fellows and Elks.
'^rM^
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1181
Laura E. Booth is now superintendent of schools of Carter County,
Montana. While the family lived in Dakota she took up a claim very
near to the historic Custer battlefield, and while proving it up, taught
school, and drove eight miles each day to her school. She passed the
United States civil service examination and taught among the Indians
at Pine Ridge Agency. After her marriage she moved to Montana, where
she has been a forceful factor in politics, stumping the state for Janet
Rankin, the first woman to be elected to Congress. This brought her
into prominence, and when Carter County was created Mrs. Hall was
appointed by the governor as superintendent of schools and has since
then held that office, being elected to it several times. She is a brilliant
woman, and her family are very proud of her and what she has accom-
plished and the future which lies before her.
Charles H. Claypool. The Tod-Stambaugh Company of Cleve-
land, Ohio, is one of the larger organizations of capital and operating
facilities owning and exploiting the ore resources of the iron ranges of
northern Minnesota. Their activities in the Hibbing district of the
Mesaba Range are carried on through the subsidiary companies known
as the Dean Iron Company, the Mead Iron Company, the Stambaugh
Iron Company, and the Orwell Iron Company. The general superin-
tendent for all these companies is Charles H. Claypool of Hibbing, who
is a practical ore man and mining engineer of long experience in these
districts.
Mr. Claypool was born at Duluth October 3, 1881, a son of George H.
and Emma M. (Huston) Claypool. His father, who was born in Arm-
strong County, Pennsylvania, came of a family of farmers and was a
pioneer settler in Duluth, where for many years he was interested in
lumbering operations, but for a number of years past has been in the
real estate business. One of three children, Charles H. Claypool grew
up at Duluth, graduated from the high school in 1900, and had the bene-
fit and advantage of the two years' course in the University School of
Mines at Minnesota University.
He began his practical career in the mining industry in the fall of
1902 at Hibbing, in the service of E. J. Longyear, and was employed
as a sample man in the Buffalo, Susquehanna & Scranton Exploration
Works. He was then in the engineering department as transit man,
working west from Hibbing to Grand Rapids, and in 1905 went with
the Oliver Iron Mining Company, at first as an engineer in the Coleraine
district, later as chief engineer, and subsequently as superintendent of
the experimental work in the washing plant. He also superintended the
construction of the new plant at Coleraine, and in January, 1910, before
that plant was completed, he formed a partnership with J. C. Agnew
and G. G. Hartley, making the Cavour Mining Company. They opened
up the Cavour Mine at Kinney, and Mr. Claypool was superintendent
of that mine. In 1916 he became associated with the Inland Steel Com-
pany of Chicago as superintendent of their Julia Mine at Virginia, but
in 1918 left the Inland Company and came to Hibbing to take up his
present duties as general superintendent for the Tod-Stambaugh Com-
pany's interests.
Mr. Claypool is one of the thorough experts and one of the best
known officials in the iron ore district. He is a member of the Algon-
quin Club and the Kiwanis Club, is affiliated with the Masonic Order,
is a Republican and a Presbyterian. April 10, 1907, he married Cath-
erine Garrettson, of Kenton, Ohio. Their three children are Charles H.,
Jr., Jane and Catherine.
1182 DULUTH AXD ST. LOUIS COUNTY
George VV. Martin. A career of consecutive application and con-
secutive progress has been that of George William Martin, who has
gained a place of prominence and influence in connection with important
industrial interests and business activities in the city of Duluth and who
has been a resident of the Lake Superior region for virtually forty years.
He is now actively identified with a special field of enterprise in con-
nection with the lumbering industry, and has been concerned with exten-
sive operations in manufacturing and handling railway ties, telegraph
and telephone poles, etc.
George W. Martin was born at Brantford, Province of Ontario, Can-
ada, on the 23d of June, 1854, and is a son of George and Margaret
Martin, both of whom were born and reared in Scotland and both of
whom were young folk when they emigrated from their native land to
Canada and gained pioneer honors in Brant County, Ontario, which
section of the province was at that time little more than a wilderness.
The parents worthily did their part in connection with civic and material
development and progress in that county and there they continued to
maintain their home until the time of their deaths. They reared a large
family of children, some of whom remained in Ontario and others of
whom came to the state of Minnesota.
The early education of George W. Martin was acquired at the rural
schools of his native county, and in the meanwhile he contributed his
share to the work of the home farm in Brantford township. He con-
tinued his association with farm industry in his native county until
1881, when, at the age of twenty-seven years, he set forth for the state
of Minnesota. At Port Edwards. Ontario, he embarked on the old
steamboat "Quebec," which afforded him transportation up through
the Great Lakes to Duluth, in which embryonic city he arrived in Octo-
ber of that year. During 1881-2 he worked on railroads and in the
lumber woods, and in the spring of the latter year assumed the position
of cashier for the Northern Pacific and St. Paul & Duluth Railroads
at Northern Pacific Junction, which was the nucleus of the present vil-
lage of Carlton, judicial center of Carlton County. He retained this
position about five years, and he then became bookkeeper and general
office man in the employ of A. M. Miller at Thomson, Carolton County.
He was thus identified with the sawmill and lumber operation conducted
by Mr. Miller until the latter closed out the business. For a period of
about eighteen months thereafter Mr. Martin was manager of the busi-
ness of Cutler & Gilbert at Duluth, and he then went to Foley, Benton
County, where he entered the employ of Foley Brothers in the capac-
ity of office manager, lumber salesman and manager of stores. He con-
tinued his alliance with this firm for eight years, or until the supply
of available timber became so diminished as to render further operations
unprofitable in the general lumbering business of the concern. At this
juncture in his career Mr. Martin returned to Duluth and initiated inde-
pendent operations in the handling of timber and the production of
railway ties on a very large scale. He found a ready demand for his
products, which were sold to the various railroads entering Duluth. and
the scope of the business was amplified by the extensive production also
of pulp wood, cedar posts and poles, logs and other forest products.
In the upbuilding of the large and important enterprise Mr. Martin
has had as his valued coadjutor his brother Thomas H., and the busi-
ness has been conducted under the firm name of Martin Brothers.
Mr. Martin has shown both energy and good judgment in his independ-
ent business activities and by initiative, discrimination and progressive
policies has achieved substantial success, with high standing as one of
ICr^fa^^
Il^pf,
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1183
the reliable and representative business men of Duluth. He had had no
desire for the activities of practical politics, but is a loyal supporter of
the cause of the Republican party, even as he has been earnest in the
support of the prohibition movement. Both he and his wife have long
been actively affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In the fall of 1921 there was installed in the tower of the First Meth-
odist Episcopal Church a set of very fine and melodious church chimes,
the gift of Mr. Martin and brother, at a cost of $10,000, and a token
of their deep interest in this church home.
In the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, on the 29th of January, 1893,
was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Martin to Miss Olive A. Swenson,
who there received her education in the public schools. The parents of
Mrs. Martin were numbered among the very early pioneer settlers in
Chisago County, Minnesota, they having come by steamboat up the
Mississippi River to St. Paul, and row boats and ox teams having been
utilized in continuing the journey and transferring the home effects to
Chisago County, where Mr. and Mrs. Swenson had the distinction of
bringing in the first piano of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have
three sons, George Carlyle, Maurice W. and Warren E.
George Carlyle Martin was one of the gallant young men who rep-
resented Minnesota in the nation's service in the great World war, and
has gained lasting distinction for the loyal and patriotic record that is
his in this connection. On the 13th of May, 1917, about one month
after the United States became formally involved in the World war,
George C. Martin entered the First Officers' Training Camp opened
at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and on the 15th of the following August
was made second lieutenant in the quartermaster's corps of the United
States Army, whereupon he was immediately ordered to Camp Dodge,
Iowa, and assigned to duty in the quartermaster's department of the
division. He was later transferred to Camp Joseph E. Johnston at Jack-
sonville, Florida, and on the 7th of March, 1918, was ordered to report
to the Eigty-second Division at Camp Gordon, Atlanta, Georgia, where
he was assigned to Company B of the Three Hundred and Seventh sup-
ply train of that division. This supply train left Camp Gordon on the
31st of March and proceeded to Detroit, Michigan. During a period of
about three months thereafter Lieutenant Martin was in the convoy serv-
ice in the transporting of motor equipment from Detroit to the Atlantic
seaboard. On the 28th of June, 1918, his command embarked for service
overseas, the voyage across the Atlantic having been made on the British
steamship "Justicia" (F. 8261), and disembarkation having been made
in the port of Liverpool, England, on the 10th of July. The following
day the command embarked at Southampton, and on the 12th of July
landed at Le Havre, France. On the 14th of the same month Lieutenant
Martin left Le Havre, and on the 17th he arrived in the Toul sector,
where he again joined the Eighty-second Division, the main body of
which had arrived in France at an earlier date. Two weeks after his
arrival in France Lieutenant Martin was appointed adjutant of the sup-
ply train, and in this position he continued his service during the
remainder of his stav in France. The division with which he served
participated in the actions of the Toul sector, the historic St. Mihiel
drive and those of the Argonne Forest, where it was stationed during
twenty-six consecutive days of vigorous conflict. After the signing of
the armistice the Eighty-second Division returned to the Pranthoy area,
between Langres and Dijon, and about the first of March it thence
proceeded to Bordeaux. From Bordeaux Lieutenant Martin sailed with
his outfit at 11 :30 p. m., April 25, 1919, the medium of transport having
1184 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
been the United States steamship "Huron," a converted German liner
formerly known as Frederich der Grosse, and on the 6th of May, 1919,
the vessel arrived in the port of New York city. The command was
thence ordered to Camp Dix, New Jersey, and there Lieutenant Martin
was mustered out on the 10th of the same month, his honorable dis-
charge having been given after a period of faithful, efficient and patri-
otic service with the American Expeditionary Forces in the great battle
area where the destinies of the world were determined. Since his
return from France Lieutenant Martin has taken unto himself a wife,
in the person of Miss Lorreta O'Gorman, a young woman of most gra-
cious personality and exceptional musical talent, their home being in the
city of Duluth.
Lawrence J. McGovern almost from the beginning of his business
career has been identified with the New York Life Insurance Com-
pany and came to Duluth in charge of the agency organization work;
about four years ago.
Mr. McGovern was born at Irondale, Illinois, November 9, 1882. a
son of Thomas E. and Mary (Cullen) McGovern. His father is still
living, at the age of sixty-five. Thomas E. McGovern for many years
has been a leading contractor of road construction. Lawrence J. McGov-
ern is second in a family of five living children and was reared and
educated in Chicago, attending the public schools and the De La Salle
Institute. His active commercial experience has given him a wide
knowledge of different lines of business. On leaving school he was
for two years bookkeeper for a soap manufacturing company. Then for
a year he was in the auditing department of the Rock Island Railroad.
Following that for two years he was employed in the rate department of
a large advertising concern having its headquarters in Chicago. Addi-
tional variety to his experience was given by service of one year as
bookkeeper with Marshall Field & Company of Chicago. It was at that
time he first joined the New York Life in the Chicago offices, employed
in the loan department. After two years he left to accept a place in
the purchasing department of the nationally known contracting firm of
Thompson Starrett Company at San Francisco. He was on the Pacific
Coast with this firm for six months, and then returned to the New York
Life as assistant cashier of the St. Paul offices. After two years there
he was transferred to the Milwaukee office four years, then for six
months was in the Missouri Clearing House, was then returned to
Milwaukee as assistant cashier, following which the company sent him
out to Grand Forks, North Dakota, as cashier in the office. He was
at Grand Forks for seven years, and from there came to Duluth to
take charge of the agency organization.
Mr. McGovern has been at Duluth four years and in that time has
added a large number of men to the agency ranks. The business of
the New York Life has been steadily growing, and it is the aim of the
company to have one of the most progressive agency organizations in the
country at the Head of the Lakes, and Mr. McGovern has been selected
as the man whose qualifications especially fit him for directing these
developments. The general offices of the company are in the Torrey
Building.
John J. E. Wertin is president of the Gray-Wertin Company,
insurance, real estate and investments, with headquarters in the Alworth
Building in Duluth. This was the first firm to handle and call attention
by judiciously placed publicity to the natural resources of Lake Yer-
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1185
million, which lies wholly in St. Louis County, as a summer recreation
playground. These grounds, as "Call of the Wild" properties have been
extensively advertised in outdoor magazines with national circulation,
and this publicity has aroused an interest in every state of the Union,
Canada. Panama Canal Zone, Japan, England and France, and pur-
chasers of the properties through the Gray-Wertin Company have come
as far east as Providence, Rhode Island, as far west as Yosemite, Cali-
fornia, as far north as Mandan, North Dakota, and as far south as
Oklahoma City.
Mr. Wertin, who is a business man of wide training and experience,
was born at Hancock, Michigan, February 6, 1885. His father was a
general merchant at Hancock for twenty-nine years. John J. E. Wertin
is the youngest of five children, three of whom are still living. He
attended public school at Hancock, and finished his education at Notre
Dame University, South Bend, Indiana.
In 1904, at the age of nineteen, he became a clerk in the office of
the Dollar Bay smelting works in Michigan, remained there six months,
following which he was cashier and bookkeeper for the Portage Lake
Gas & Coke Company of Hancock for four months, was then treasurer
of the copartnership of the A. H. Kruger Lake Gas & Coke Company
of Hancock for a similar period, and remained as treasurer of the A. H.
Kruger Company of Duluth and Houghton until June 1, 1909, with head-
quarters at Halpin.
In June, 1909, Mr. Wertin came to Duluth and formed a partnership
with O. H. Clarke under the name Clarke-Wertin Company, a fire
insurance business. In September, 1913, was formed the Gray-Wertin
Company to handle real estate as well as insurance. Mr. Wertin became
treasurer of this company but for the past three years has been its
president.
Mr. Wertin is a Catholic and a member of the Knights of Columbus.
On January 14, 1913, he married at Duluth Miss Clara W'helan. They
have two children, Virginia Elizabeth and John J. E., Jr.
O. H. Clarke, member of the insurance firm of Clarke-Wertin Com-
pany, came to Duluth in 1894, and has been engaged in the real estate
business for more than a third of a century. For a number of years
he lived at Winona, Minnesota, where he was with the wholesale gro-
cery house of Carter & Blake up to 1875. In 1876 he became deputy
recorder of deeds, an office he filled until 1882, and then took up the
flour milling industry at Ellsworth, Wisconsin. He also held the office
of city clerk until he came to Duluth. Mr. Clarke has two children:
Dr. H. W. Clarke, born March 14, 1883, and Florence K., born Novem-
ber 24, 1888. Both are natives of Winona. Florence is the wife of
H. C. Whaley, living at Crosby, Minnesota, Mr. Whaley being man-
ager on the Cuyuna Range for the Marshall-Wells Hardware Company
at Duluth.
Edward Freeman, who is presiding on the bench of the Eleventh
Judicial District of Minnesota, with residence and official headquarters
in the city of Virginia, has gained vantage place as one of the able and
representative members of the bar of his native state, as well as high
reputation as a jurist.
Judge Freeman was born at Mankato, Minnesota, on the 15th of
October, 1879, a son of Edward E. and Elizabeth K. (Morris) Free-
man, the former of whom was born at Hartford, Connecticut, and the
latter at Binehamton, New York, both the Freeman and Morris fam-
1186 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
ilies having been established in America for many generations. Edward
E. Freeman was long and actively engaged in the practice of law at
Mankato, and gained secure status as one of the representative mem-
bers of the bar of Minnesota.
Judge Freeman was graduated from the Mankato High School as
a member of the class of 1896, and thereafter he was employed one
year in the engineering department of the great Chicago drainage canal.
the following year finding him in service in the engineering and track
department of the Illinois Central Railroad. He then entered the civil
engineering department of the University of Minnesota, but after giving
two years thus to preparing himself for the profession of civil engineer-
ing, he entered the law department of the university, in which he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1903 and with the degree of
Bachelor of Laws. While at the university he became affiliated with the
Phi Delta Epsilon fraternity and the Phi Delta Phi law fraternity,
besides which he was actively associated with athletic affairs at the
university, where he was for three years a member of the baseball team,
of which he was captain one year, and where he was for one year a
member of the football team.
On the 15th of October. 1903, shortly after his graduation, Judge
Freeman engaged in the practice of his profession at Chisholm, Minne-
sota, and three years later was there elected municipal judge, an office
of which he continued the incumbent six years. He then resumed the
private practice of his profession, in which he continued at Chisholm
until April, 1917, and was then appointed to the bench of the Eleventh
Judicial District of the state. In the following June he removed to
Virginia, where he has since maintained his home. While a resident
of Chisholm Judge Freeman gave several terms of characteristically
effective service as village attorney and attorney for the Board of Edu-
cation. At the time of the disastrous fire that destroyed much of the
village he was chairman of the relief committee. At Chisholm Judge
Freeman still maintains affiliation with Hematite Lodge No. 274, Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons, and Chisholm Lodge No. 1334, Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks, while at Virginia he is an active and valued
member of the Rotary Club. In politics he is a Republican of independ-
ent tendencies, and he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian
Church. During the nation's participation in the World war he was a
member of the Defense League at Chisholm and otherwise active and
resourceful in the furtherance of local war activities.
On the 14th of October, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Judge
Freeman to Miss Bertha Peck, who was born at Eau Claire, Wisconsin,
and the names and respective dates of birth of their four children are
here recorded: Everett P., November 20, 1906; Eleanor, September 21,
1908; Rae, May 25, 1910; and Edward D., March 16. 1915.
Edward Chester Congdon was born in St. Paul. Minnesota,
March 1, 1885. and is the second in order of birth of the seven children
born to Chester Adgate and Clara (Bannister) Congdon. In May, 1892,
the family removed to Duluth. He attended the Hill School at Potts-
town, Pennsylvania, and graduated there in 1904. He then entered
Yale College, where he was graduated in 1908 with the degree of Bach-
elor of Arts. After a European trip he went to work, in October, 1908,
in the office of his father, and continued there until the war.
He was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry on November
6, 1916, in the newly authorized Officers Reserve Corps, but on March 1,
1917, the commission expired by reason of the age limitation for that
WjA^ l/\ y {&^tjr^-L^>-x5~\
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DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1187
grade. He then, in May. enlisted at the Officers Training Camp at Fort
Snelling, where on August 15, 1917, he was commissioned a captain
of infantry and ordered to Camp Dodge for active duty and was there
assigned to the command of Company D of the Three Hundred and
Fifty-second Infantry Regiment. Shortly afterward Captain Congdon
entered upon a long period of sickness and was unable to accompany
the regiment overseas. He was finally discharged from the service
January 23, 1919, while still on sick leave, and has since been giving his
attention to his various business interests.
Mr. Congdon married Miss Dorothy House on May 5, 1920.
Chester Adgate Congdon was born June 12, 1853, at Rochester.
New York, and died November 21, 1916, at St. Paul, Minnesota. His
father, Sylvester Laurentus Congdon, was a Methodist clergyman. His
mother was Laura Jane Adgate Congdon. On the paternal side he is
sixth in descent from James Congdon, a Quaker from England who
settled in Rhode Island in the first half of the seventeenth century. On the
paternal side all ancestors were of English origin. On the maternal side
he is a grandson of Chester V. Adgate and Hannah Berger, the latter
the daughter of Berger and Jane Van Horn. The Adgate family were
from New England and presumed to be of English descent. The Ber-
ger and Van Horn families were from the Hudson River Valley and
are of Holland origin. Chester Adgate Congdon obtained his education
in the public schools of Elmira, New York, after which he attended the
East Genesee Conference Seminary at Ovid, New York, and took the
degree of A. B. at Syracuse University in 1875. His early occupation
was school teaching, which continued for one year. He was admitted
to the bar of the state of New York as attorney and counsellor-at-law
October 13, 1877, and to the bar of the state of Minnesota, January 9,
1880. He practiced law at St. Paul, Minnesota, from January, 1880.
until January, 1892, when he moved to Duluth, Minnesota, and became
a member of the firm of Billson & Congdon, which firm was changed
November 1, 1893, to Billson, Congdon & Dickinson. On the death of
Judge Dickinson the title returned to the original style, Billson & Cong-
don, which continued until January 1, 1904, at which time both members
retired from the forensic profession.
Mr. Congdon entered into various business enterprises and was an
officer or director of numerous iron mining corporations, the Calumet
and Arizona Mining Company and other copper mining corporations,
also the American Exchange National Bank, Marshall-Wells Hardware
Company, and Gowan-Lenning-Brown Company in Duluth. He also
went into the fruit growing and cattle raising business in the Yakima
Valley, Washington. He was assistant United States attorney, District
of Minnesota, 1881 to 1886; a member of the House of Representatives,
Minnesota Legislature, 1909 and 1911 sessions; a member of the Duluth
Charter Commission from October 7, 1903, until his death; and at the
time of his death was the Minnesota member of the Republican Na-
tional Committee. He was a member of various clubs and college fra-
ternities, including Psi Upsilon and Phi Beta Kappa.
Mr. Congdon was married at Syracuse, New York, September 29,
1881, to Clara Hesperia Bannister, the union being blessed with seven
children: Walter Bannister, Edward Chester, Marjorie, Helen Clara,
John (deceased), Elizabeth Mannering and Robert Congdon.
The following editorial appeared in the Duluth Herald of November
21. 1916:
Vol. JII — 17
1188 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
"In the passing of Chester A. Congdon, Duluth's and Minnesota's
loss is far greater than many people realize. It is not the loss of Minne-
sota's wealthiest man, if Mr. Congdon was Minnesota's wealthiest man,
that counts, for in the hush of death riches have faint voice. It is the
rich personality and the human possibilities of the personality that con-
stitute the loss.
"Many, perhaps, knew Mr. Congdon as a man of stern and even
rather grim exterior, of distance and aloofness ; yet what they saw was
not the man at all. Those who really knew him found in him a man of
tender heart and warm human sympathies. That misleading exterior
was beyond question the product of an unconquerable diffidence, strange
as it may seem to many ; and it was this same diffidence that kept secret
his many beneficences.
"Mr. Congdon was a close student of government and state policies,
a foe of waste and inefficiency, a friend of political progress as he saw
it, a champion of clean public life and sound government. He was always
the good citizen, eager to have his part in every forward movement in
directions that he judged to be wise ; and his share in the development of
better things in public life in this state has been far greater than many
people know.
"Not because he was a rich man but because he was a good mary
with sound instincts and large capacities for service and with an ever
increasing will to give his energy and means to wholesome public enter-
prises the loss of Chester A. Congdon is a great blow to the commu-
nity, to the state and to the nation."
Eugene F. Bradt. It is a compliment worthily bestowed to say that
Duluth and St. Louis County are honored by the citizenship of Eugene
F. Bradt, for he has achieved definite success through his own efforts
and is thoroughly deserving of the proud American title of "self-made
man," the term being one that, in its better sense, cannot but appeal to
the loyal admiration of all who are appreciative of our national insti-
tutions and the privileges offered for individual accomplishment. It is
a privilege, ever gratifying in this day and age, to meet a man who has
the courage to face the battles of life and to win in the stern conflict
by bringing to bear only those forces with which nature has equipped
him — self-reliance, self-respect and integrity.
Eugene F. Bradt, who for many years has enjoyed a high reputa-
tion as a mining and consulting engineer, was born May 6, 1857, in
. Van Buren County, Michigan, and is the son of James and Wilhelmina
Bradt, the former a native of New York state and the mother of Ger-
many. Both parents are now deceased, the father dying in 1900 and the
mother passing away in the following year. James Bradt was pos-
sessed of a good common school education, spent his early life on a
New York farm and thereafter followed that vocation. Eugene F.
Bradt is the second in order of birth of the five children born to these
parents, two of the children dying in infancy. Eugene F. Bradt attended
the common schools of his home neighborhood and was ambitious to
secure a collegiate education. To this end he attended different col-
leges for such periods as he was financially able to do, and from 1877
(when twenty years old) until 1899 he taught a number of terms of
school, alternating teaching with attendance at college, the major portion
of the later time being spent at the University of Michigan. In August,
1885. he was married to Ida V. Hurlbut. of Hartford, Michigan, who
taught in the same school with Mr. Bradt. Three children were born
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1189
of this marriage, namely, Harlan H. Bradt, Frances Gertrude Bradt and
Mary Antoinette Bradt. Mrs. Bradt died in 1916.
After leaving school Mr. Bradt turned to the mining industry as
offering greater opportunities for advancement and has devoted himself
to some phase of this business ever since. His first employment was at
Ishpeming, Michigan, as a mining engineer, though his work embraced
general engineering and surveying. This work engaged his attention
for ten years. In August, 1899, he took charge of the Minnesota Iron
Company's exploration work in Michigan, remaining with them until
December of the following year. After that for about- three months he
was employed in doing exploration work in Canada for the Illinois Steel
Company or some of its subsidiary companies. Following that for a
short period he was engaged in looking over and examining mining lands
belonging to the Canadian Northern Railway Company in Canada, from
Port Arthur to Winnipeg. In July, 1901, he entered the employ of the
Algoma Steel Company, remaining with this company until February,
1903, having entire charge of all their mining and exploration work in
Michigan, Canada and elsewhere. He next entered the employ of the
Great Northern Railway Company, in charge of the Leonard Mining
Company, and opened up the Leonard Mine at Chisholm, Minnesota.
He was with this company until November, 1904, at which time he went
to Detroit, Michigan, where he sank a shaft and opened up a rock salt
mine under difficulties which the engineering profession regarded as
impracticable, if not impossible, to overcome. He remained with the
Detroit Rock Salt Company, for whom this work was done, until Novem-
ber, 1909, when he entered the employ of the Vermillion Range Land
Company for the purpose of exploiting their land holdings. In Novem-
ber, 1912, he became connected with the Jones & Laughlin Steel Com-
pany at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as consulting mining engineer, remain-
ing with that company until May, 1916, since which time he has been
associated with his son, Harlan H. Bradt, mining geologist, in general
mining, engineering and geological work, carrying on their operations
largely through the Mines Efficiency Company in Duluth and New York,
which company they organized in 1916.
Mr. Bradt's first visit to Duluth was in December, 1898, but he did
not become a resident of that city until the year 1912, since which time
he has been numbered among the progressive and public-spirited men of
the city. He is a member of the Masonic Order, in which he has at-
tained to the degree of the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. His religious
faith is that of the Presbyterian Church, in which he has been actively
interested, having held the office of elder in the churches to which he
belonged at Hibbing, Minnesota, and Detroit, Michigan. Politically he
gives his earnest support to the Republican party.
In all that constitutes true manhood and good citizenship Eugene F.
Bradt is a notable example, his career having been characterized by duty
faithfully performed and by industry, thrift and wisely-directed efforts.
Frank Ansley, of Hibbing, can speak with authority born of long
personal experience on many phases of the industrial and business life
of the north and northwest. His experience was particularly long and
thorough in the lumber industry. He was in the great Canadian north-
west for several years before railroads were built across that part of
the continent. He is an old resident of the Iron Range district, and
later years have brought him a substantial business and accumulations
as a farmer and real estate man at Hibbing.
1190 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Ansley was born in County Frontenac, Ontario, January 9,
1864. His grandfather and several prior generations were natives of
New England, but his father, William Ansley, was born in Canada and
spent his active life as a farmer and contractor. William Ansley mar-
ried Jane Jenkins, of Welsh and Dutch ancestry, and both of them spent
their years in Canada. Of seven children all are living but one.
Frank Ansley grew up on the home farm in Ontario, and while
he attended district school he early began to share in the labors and
responsibilities of the home place. In early life he also learned teleg-
raphy, though he never became a regular operator. For some time he
was associated with his father in logging operations, and there is per-
haps no department of the lumber industry with which he is not prac-
tically familiar. He worked in the office, was camp cook, and performed
all the various actual operations in the woods. Later he took a bunch
of horses out to the end of the rails on the Canadian Pacific Railway
and entered the freighting service of the firm of Hines & Murphy. While
in that work he assisted in transporting troops during the Riel rebellion
in western Canada. For two years he was employed by a Quebec firm
in getting out board timber in western Ontario, part of the time serving
as foreman and part of the time as camp cook.
Leaving Canada, Mr. Ansley came over the line into the United
States to Michigan and for seven years was in the lumber district of.
Michigan as a cook, clerk in a meat market and manager of the meat
market of the Interior Lumber Company. In 1892 he became one of
the pioneers of the Iron Ranges of northern Minnesota. His first
employment was as a cook at Mountain Junction. Later he engaged
in business for himself there, and on selling out spent some six months
in the west and then returned to the Range country to engage in busi-
ness at Eveleth. Mr. Ansley identified himself with Hibbing in 1902
and entered the hotel business, in which line he continued for several
years. During that time he opened the Miles Hotel, but soon sold it,
and also acquired what is still a large interest in the purchase of a
hundred twenty acres adjoining Alice, now a part of the new city of
Hibbing. Farming this land and promoting its development and sale
still constitutes his chief business.
Mr. Ansley served several terms as a trustee of the village of Hib-
bing and two terms as president, and is now in his eighth consecutive
year as a member of the School Board of Independent District No. 27.
including Hibbing. For six years he was a member of the Hibbing
Park Board, at a time when that body was planning and carrying out
some of the effective work for the beautification of the village.
Mr. Ansley has been active in the Commercial Club since its organiza-
tion, is a Republican, and is affiliated, with the Elks and the Improved
Order of Red Men. January 12, 1903. he married Miss Vera Golka.
of Stevens Point. Wisconsin. Four children were born to their mar-
riage : Alice, who died in infancy ; Patsey Grace, who died at the age
of eighteen months ; Francis A. and William G.
William O'Hara. Several interesting distinctions are associated
with the name of William O'Hara of Biwabik. He was one of the first
settlers in that district, being there before Biwabik was established as
a town. He has been continuously for twenty-seven years chief of police.
Both officially and as a private citizen he has contributed to the sub-
stantial development and the orderly progress of the town.
Mr. O'Hara was born near Ottawa, Canada, July 11. 1857. His
parents, William and Sarah (Kilgore) O'Hara, shortly after their
WM. O'HARA
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1191
marriage in Ireland set out for the new world, coming to Canada, and
when their son William was a child moved to a farm in New York-
state.
William O'Hara, third in a family of five sons, acquired his early
education by walking four miles from the home farm to a country school.
At the age of seventeen he went to Menominee, Michigan, and became
a timber worker. He was possessed of a rugged and sturdy physique,
and all his life has been able to take his share of duties or labors with
anyone. He came to the Iron Range of northern Minnesota in 1892.
Biwabik had not yet come into existence as a town. The nearest set-
tlement was a little hamlet known as America. For a time he worked
as foreman on construction during the building of the first railroad and
helped lay the railroad into Virginia. When the Biwabik Mine was
opened he was appointed a foreman, but in a short time his duties were
required for the office of chief of police, and he has shown such pro-
ficiency in that position that no one else has ever been suggested for
the office in his stead. He is a man of cool and collected courage, always
ready to act in emergency, and many recall with special favor the admir-
able manner in which he handled the strike situation of 1917.
Mr. O'Hara's first residence on the range was a tent. His family
joined him later. In Michigan, in 1882, he married Julia Elizabeth
Tierney, a native of New York state. They are the parents of three
sons and four daughters : William, a railroad employe ; Minnie, wife
of Hugh Glass, an Iron Range conductor; Vinnie, wife of J. C. McGiv-
ern, president of the First National Bank of Biwabik ; Ronica, a teacher
in the schools of Eveleth ; Joseph, a teacher at Sun Prairie, Wisconsin;
Matt, who is finishing his education at Notre Dame, Indiana ; and Celes-
tine, also in school. The sons Matt and Joseph were with the colors
during the World war. The family are members of St. John the Baptist
Catholic Church, and Mr. O'Hara is affiliated with the Knights of
Columbus.
A. H. Peacha is one of Duluth's live and enterprising younger
business men and for the past six years has been an important factor
in the success of the Interstate Auto Company, one of the chief organ-
izations for the sale and distribution of automobiles and automobile
accessories in the northwestern country.
Mr. Peacha was born in Cloquet, Minnesota, September 6, 1883,
son of Joseph F. and Bridget (Hay) Peacha. His father was born in
Canada, has spent the greater part of his active life as a lumberman
and is still living at Duluth at the age of sixty-four. In a family of
eleven children nine are still living, A. H. Peacha being the fourth
in age.
Mr. Peacha was well educated in the public schools of his native
town, but at the age of fifteen went to work and was with his father
in the lumber woods and acquired every phase of experience in that
industry. For five years he was foreman of a manufacturing concern
and then came to Duluth and since 1914 has been superintendent of the
Interstate Automobile Company. This company was organized by C. F.
Fitzsimmon, president, W. G. Baldwin, treasurer, and Joseph F. Peacha,
secretary and manager. They handle an important line of motor cars,
have worked up an immense business in that line, and also handle auto-
mobile accessories. They control the patent rights of one of the leading
automobile heaters in the country.
Thirteen years ago Mr. Peacha married Miss May Childs. They
have three children, William, Mary Ann and Elizabeth.
1192 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
H. H. Borgen. The gentleman whose name heads this paragraph
is widely known as one of the enterprising business men of Duluth,
where he has lived for a score of years and has been identified with its
commercial interests. His well directed efforts in the practical affairs
of life, has capable management of his business interests and his sound
judgment have brought him commensurate rewards for the labor he
has expended and today he honors and is honored by the community
in which he lives.
H. H. Borgen was born on the 21st day of March, 1862, in Norway,
and is a son of Mr. and Mrs. B. M. Borgen. the former of whom died
in 1885. H. H. Borgen is the first born of the three children which
blessed the union of his parents. He remained in his native land until
twenty-five years of age, when, in 1887, he came to the United States
to make his future home. He first located in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
where he obtained employment as a salesman with the Nelson Tenny
Lumber Company, with whom he remained for eight years. He then
began to work for the Twin City Paint Company as cashier and sales-
man, serving with them for three years. In 1900 he came to Duluth
and engaged in the paint and hardware business under the name of the
Northwestern Paint and Hardware Company, and from the beginning
he has enjoyed a remarkable success, being now numbered among the
leaders in his line in Duluth. He deals in paints, oils, varnishes, brushes
and wall paper, and also handles builders' hardware, tools, etc., his store
at No. 323 West First street being well stocked with a full line of these
and kindred lines. At the time Mr. Borgen located where he now is
there were but few retail stores in that section, but he has witnessed
a wonderful development of that part of the city.
Politically he gives his support to the Republican party, while his
religious faith is that of the First Lutheran Church, to which he belongs.
Fraternally he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, the Sons of Norway, the Modern Samaritans, and the Blue Lodge,
Free and Accepted Masons. He is a member of the Duluth Boat Club
and the Retail Merchants Association.
On September 4, 1895, Mr. Borgen was married to Anna Hoegh,
who was born in Norway, coming to the United States alone in 1894.
To Mr. and Mrs. Borgen have been born four children, namely : Thor-
stein, born March 21, 1899; Gudvein, born March 14, 1900;' Herbert,
born April 21, 1902; and Roy, born November 21, 1910. Thorstein was
a student in the Duluth public schools, being in the high school when the
United States entered the great World war. He promptly enlisted in
the Navy, and on April 7, 1917, was sent to Philadelphia. He was
assigned to the battleship division of the Navy and remained in active
service until receiving his discharge on February 4, 1919. Gudvein,
who completed her studies in the Duluth public schools, is at home. Her-
bert, after leaving the public schools, became a student in Waldruff Col-
lege at Forest City, Iowa. Roy is attending the Duluth public schools.
The success which has come to Mr. Borgen is directly traceable to the
salient points in his character, for he started in life at the bottom of
the ladder, which he mounted unaided. With a mind capable of plan-
ning, he combined a will strong enough to execute his well formulated
purposes, and his energy, sound judgment, keen discrimination and per-
severance have resulted in the splendid prosperity which he now enjoys.
Emanuel W. Coons. Soon after the working of the first iron ore
deposits on the Mesaba Range Emanuel W. Coons came into the region,
went into business as a merchant at Virginia, but for the greater part
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1193
of twenty years has been actively identified with the mining industry
and with contracting. For the past eighteen years as a contractor he
has handled many of the large municipal improvements in Hibbing and
vicinity.
Mr. Coons was born at Marshall, Illinois, February 22, 1867, a son
of George H. and Emma (Brossman) Coons. His father came from
a long line of American ancestry and the mother was of Pennsylvania
Dutch stock. George H. Coons spent his early life as a farmer, but
for several years past has been engaged in the contracting and drainage
business, his home being at Washington, Indiana.
One of four children. Emanuel W. Coons was reared on a farm,
had a district school education and lived in Illinois until he was twenty-
three years of age. In the fall of 1890 he went to Crystal Falls. Michi-
gan, where he took up carpentering, his first work being on the Court
House of Iron County. Then, in February, 1893, he came to the
Mesaba Range in St. Louis County, Minnesota, locating at Virginia,
and in March opened a stock of furniture. His business was burned
out in June, but he reestablished himself and continued until 1897, when
he sold. In February, 1898, Mr. Coons began firing a steam shovel for
the stripping firm of the Drake & Stratton Company at the Biwabik
Mine at Biwabik. He was in the service of this corporation for four-
teen years, but in a rising scale of responsibility, eventually becoming
superintendent.
Since 1912 Mr. Coons has made his home at Hibbing and has em-
ployed his capital and increasing organization in general contracting
under the firm name of the E. W. Coons Company. This firm put down
all the pavements in the village of Hibbing, constructed the present res-
ervoir and water system, and does a large business over St. Louis
County.
Mr. Coons is a Republican voter and member of the Catholic Church.
July 5, 1893, he married Amanda Thouin. Their one daughter is Phyllis
Margaret. Mr. Coons is deeply interested in public affairs, and has held
some official places, serving as deputy county coroner under Dr. J. J.
Eckiund and as deputy county clerk under John Owens. He was exalted
ruler of his Lodge of Elks in 1919 and is a member of the Knights
of Columbus and the Algonquin Club.
Harry P. Lee. The splendid success that has attended his business
enterprise in the city of Duluth has fully justified the confidence and
good judgment displayed by Mr. Lee when he here established, in 1900,
the first cash-and-carry meat market of the city. Excellent service to
a discriminating and appreciative patronage has been the secure basis
on which the substantial and prosperous business has been built up,
and incidentally Mr. Lee has gained place as one of the progressive
business men and loyal and public-spirited citizens of the fair metropolis
at the Head of Lake Superior.
Harry P. Lee was born in Ireland, September 27, 1866, and is a
son of John and Ellen Lee. In his career in the United States he has
proved himself a master of expedients and has won success through his
own energy and well directed efforts. He acquired the major part of
his early education in the schools of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the
family home was established upon immigration to this country from the
fair old Emerald Isle, and later he completed a course of study in Upper
Iowa University at Fayette, Io.wa, where he continued his studies until
1889. Mr. Lee gained in his youth a thorough knowledge of the vari-
ous details of the meat-market business and became an expert at his
1194 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
trade. Prior to coming to Duluth he had conducted markets at Lawler
and Oelwein, Iowa, and in 1900, as previously noted, he came to Duluth
and opened the first cash-and-carry market. His large and well equipped
market is established at 205 West First street, with the best of modern
facilities and service, and here he has developed a business that has
attained to as high an annual aggregate as $250,000. This statement
bears its own significance as attesting the unqualified success that has
attended the well conducted enterprise.
Mr. Lee is a valued member of the Duluth Commercial Club, is
independent in politics and gives his support to men and measures meet-
ing the approval of his judgment, and he and his family are communi-
cants of the Catholic Church.
At Lawler, Iowa, on the 26th of May, 1891, was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Lee to Miss Mary E. Gurnette. daughter of Thomas
and Johanna Gurnette, the father having given gallant service as a
soldier of the Union in the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Lee have three
children: Cletus H., Andrew J. and Harma M. The two sons were
gallant young men who represented Duluth in the nation's service in the
World war, Cletus H. having been in the marine aviation service and
Andrew J. in that of the field artillery. Both of the sons saw five
months of service in France.
Thomas A. Flannigan, general superintendent of the Republic Iron
and Steel Company, is one of the best-known men in his calling in north-
ern Minnesota, and a commanding figure at Gilbert. He was born at
Ishpeming, Michigan, April 19, 1881. a son of Thomas A. and Johanna
(Fogarty) Flannigan. The elder Thomas A. Flannigan was born in
Ireland in 1831, but came to the United States when he was eighteen
years of age, and immediately became identified with mining operations.
He was one of the pioneers in the Lake Superior country. His wife was
born in Ireland but came to the United States when young, and they
were married at Ishpeming, Michigan. They had nine children, of whom
the younger Thomas A. Flannigan was the sixth in order of birth.
Growing up at Ishpeming, Thomas A. Flannigan attended its public
schools and was graduated from its high school course in 1898. Dur-
ing 1899 and 1900 he attended the Detroit Business College and then
became private secretary to Captain Walters of the Pittsburgh and Lake
Angeline Iron Company, and held that position during 1900 and 1901.
Mr. Flannigan then went to Virginia, Minnesota, and became cashier of
the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, and was at the Lincoln Mine
as such for four years. In 1906 he began his connection with the Repub-
lic Iron and Steel Company as superintendent of the Onandago Mine at
Virginia, and after four years in this position was transferred to Gilbert,
in 1910, and made superintendent of the Schley and Pettit Mines.
Further promotion was accorded in 1911 when he was made superin-
tendent of the Mesaba Range Mines of this same company, and is stiil
holding that position.
A man of great force of character, Mr. Flannigan has directed some
of his energy to civic affairs, and served Gilbert for two years as village
trustee so efficiently that he was re-elected for a term of three years.
He has been supervisor of Mesabi Mountain township for eleven years
and is now chairman of the county board. He belongs to Virginia Lodge
No. 1003, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Duluth Council.
Knights of Columbus, and in religious belief is a Catholic. Politically he
is a Republican. During the great war Mr. Flannigan was a member of the
Home Guards, and served as chairman of several of the local commit-
h.
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1195
tees, having in charge the promotion of the various drives, and he was
also a member of the executive committee of the Local Council of
Defense.
On June 26, 1917, Mr. Flannigan was married to Miss Foryst Hurt
at Des Moines, Iowa. She was born at Neuman, a daughter of Doctor
Hurt, and is a member of an old American family. Mr. and Mrs. Flan-
nigan have one son, Thomas A., who was born April 9, 1918.
Daniel B. Hayes. The thriving village of Hibbing made wise and
consistent selection when the municipal authorities advanced Daniel B.
Hayes to the office of chief of the police department upon the death of
the former incumbent, W. J. Dwyer. Chief Hayes had already made an
excellent record as a member of the police force of this village, with
which he became identified in the year 1912. His effective service led
to his promotion to the position of sergeant, and his advancement to the
office of chief of police came on the 6th of December, 1920.
Mr. Hayes was born at Negaunee, Michigan, August 20, 1880, and
is a son of James and Mary (Harding) Hayes, both natives of Ireland,
where the former was born in County Tipperary and the latter in County
Limerick, both having been young folk when they came to America and
their marriage having been solemnized in northern Michigan. James
Hayes gained a measure of pioneer prestige in connection with mining
operations on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and he is still living,
at the age of seventy-eight years (1921), his devoted wife having passed
to the life eternal on the 5th of March, 1916. The religious faith of
the family has ever been that of the Catholic Church. Of eight children,
Daniel B., of this review, was the sixth in order of birth.
Hibbing's chief of police gained his early education in parochial and
public schools in his native city, attending school until fifteen years of
age, and for five years he lived in Ironwood, another of the vital min-
ing cities of northern Michigan. He became a locomotive engineer in
the employ of the Oliver Mining Company, and in the service of the
same company he later became foreman at the Hull-Rust Mine in the
Hibbing district of Minnesota. In 1912 he severed his association with
the mining company and became a member of the Hibbing police force,
in which his efficient and discriminating service, as coupled with his
personal popularity, eventually led to his being chosen chief of the
department, the office in which he is now giving a most able and satis-
factory administration.
Chief Hayes is independent in politics, is interested in all that con-
cerns the welfare and advancement of his home village, and is one of
the valued officials of Hibbing. Both he and his wife are earnest com-
municants of the Catholic Church.
In the year 1917 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hayes to Miss
Ethel Summers, of Ligonier, Indiana, and they have two children, Cath-
erine Eileen and Daniel Leo.
Edmund I. Casey' has been identified in a business way with and
has had his residence in the Range country of northern Minnesota for
thirty years. He is an old time merchant of Chisholm, and was in busi-
ness there when the town was destroyed by fire in 1908. He is presi-
dent of the C. P. Drug Company, an organization operating a chain of
drug stores in several of the Range towns.
Mr. Casey was born in Livingston County, New York, May 25, 1865,
son of John Powell and Alida (Burr) Casey. His people were Colonial
settlers, lived for several generations at Providence, Rhode Island, and
1196 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
members of the family have been represented in the various wars of
the nation. For the most part they have been agriculturists.
When Edmund I. Casey was ten years of age his parents moved to
Minneapolis and he grew up and lived in that city to the age of twenty-
five. His father was employed in the flouring mills as a wheat inspector.
Mr. Casey had a grammar school education and as a boy entered employ-
ment in the line which he has followed ever since. He learned the drug
business in a wholesale house at Minneapolis, and for about six years
was connected with a wholesale drug company at Duluth. It was in
1890 that he came to the Iron Range district as manager of a drug
store at Hibbing, one of the first enterprises of that community. In
1906 he became associated with J. J. Hayes in the drug business at
Chisholm, and since then has gradually extended his enterprise until
the C. P. Drug Company, of which he is president, now has stores at
Hibbing, Virginia and Chisholm. Mr. Casey is a director of the Chisholm
Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Kiwanis Club, is a thirty-second
degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, and a member of the Elks.
He is a Methodist. In 1892 he married Emma Johnson, a native of
Minnesota. The three children- born to their marriage are Roy E.,
Ruth M. and Anna E. The son Roy as a member of the National Guard
served with Company M on the Mexican border, and when America
entered the war with Germany he attended the Officers Training School
at Fort Snelling, was commissioned a second lieutenant in Field Artil-
lery, but was kept in this country for training purposes.
Hiram S. Rankin holds a university degree as mechanical engineer
and for over ten years has been engaged in engineering work on the
Mesaba Range, and since 1916 has been . superintendent of the Webb
Mine owned by the Shenango Furnace Company.
Mr. Rankin was born at Flint, Michigan, October 5, 1886, only son
and child of George H. and Jennie (Smith) Rankin. His father has
given many years of his life to railroading and steamboating, and is
now anditor for the Pere Marquette line of steamers.
When Hiram S. Rankin was two years of age his parents moved to
Milwaukee and he grew up in that city, graduating from the East Divi-
sion High School in 1905. He then entered the University of Wisconsin,
specializing in the mechanical engineering course, and was graduated
in 1909. He at once came to northern Minnesota and was made an
engineer for the Oliver Iron Mining Company in the Chisholm district.
In 1912 he became mine inspector for the Shenango Furnace Company
and four years later was promoted to superintendent of the Webb Mine
in the Hibbing district. Mr. Rankin is one of the many high-class tech-
nical men on the Mesaba Range, and is also one of the influential citi-
zens of Hibbing.
He is a member of the Engineers Club of Northern Minnesota and
has taken fourteen degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry. July 2, 1912,
he married Marjorie Thompson, of Minneapolis. Their four children
are George T., Marion, Harriet J. and Betty Ruth.
William J. Dwyer, late chief of police of the Village of Hibbing,
had enjoyed since early manhood a career of action, incident and expe-
rience largely in the great northwestern country. He was born at Minne-
apolis, Minnesota, December 12. 1859, son of John and Bridget (Ryan)
Dwyer. His parents were both born in Ireland and came to the United
States during the fifties. Both the father and mother lived to the same
age and each lacked only four months of attaining their ninety-sixth
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 1197
birthday. One of seven children, William J. Dwyer grew up in Minne-
apolis, attended public schools there, and as a youth gained experiences
that brought him a long and continuous connection with some phase of
the lumber industry. For years he was a shingle sawyer in an old water
power mill in his native city and later was employed by the lumber
firm of Powers & Dwyer, the junior member of which was his brother.
During the winter term he kept books for the firm in the woods and
in the summers had charge of all the firm's horses.
This was Mr. Dwyer's work in the main until 1900, when he came
to Hibbing. Years previously he had traveled over the country and
had passed and repassed the site of Hibbing before any effort had been
made to plant a village there. For a number of years after coming to
Hibbing Mr. Dwyer was in charge of the lumber yard of Powers &
Simpson. The office was on the ground now occupied by the present
wooden Oliver Hotel. Later for two years he was employed by thq
Cash Commission Company, and for seven years operated the lumber
yard of Peter McHardy.
In 1912 Mr. Dwyer became desk sergeant of the police department
and three years later, in 1915, was given well deserved promotion to
the responsibilities of chief of police, which position he held at the time
of his death, November 30, 1920. He was a member of the Catholic
Church and affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks. April 17, 1884, Mr. Dwyer married Catherine
Hogan, of Allamakee County, Iowa. Ten children were born to their
marriage: William, deceased; John, George, William, Lillian, Frank,
Anthony, also deceased ; Eugene, Harry and Agnes. Two of the sons
were with the colors during the World war. John was in Company I
of the 21st Engineers. He saw duty at the fighting front in St. Mihiel
and the Argonne Forest and received an honorable discharge at the close
of the war. The son George also volunteered and was employed in the
Spruce Division of the Northwest, helping get out material for aero-
plane construction.
William Pearson. During a long period extending over practi-
cally four decades the name Pearson has been synonymous with the
building industry in Duluth and St. Louis County. William Pearson is
the son of a former building contractor of Duluth, and his work for
a number of years has identified him with Ely and that section of the
Range country.
William Pearson was born at Duluth May 17, 1885, son of Harry
and Elizabeth (Fawcett) Pearson. His parents were born in Liverpool,
England. His father died at Duluth December 23, 1916, at the age of
sixty-two, and the mother lives at Duluth, aged sixty-one. They went to
Duluth in 1882, and Harry Pearson employed his skill and his organ-
ization as a contractor in the erection of many notable buildings in that
city, including the Public Library as one outstanding example. He was
a thirty-second degree Mason and a Republican. His six children are
named as follows : Thomas, assistant claim agent of the D. M. & N.
Railroad; John, with the Duluth Electrical Supply Company; Harry,
associated with his brother in business at Ely ; Arthur, in the hardware
business at Duluth ; Douglas, who lives with his mother at Duluth.
William Pearson, the third child, was well educated at Duluth, attend-
ing the public schools to the age of seventeen, after which he went on
the payroll of his father and applied all his time and energies to getting
skill and knowledge of the building trades. His service as a contractor
has resulted in some construction at Duluth, and in 1914 he began build-
1198 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
ing houses on the Range. Since 1916 he has made his permanent head-
quarters and home at Ely.
In 1904 Mr. Pearson married Martha Hanson, daughter of Nels
Hanson. They are Presbyterians and Mr. Pearson is affiliated with the
Lodge of Masons at Ely, the Knight Templar Commandery at Duluth,
is a member of the Moose and in politics is independent.
Bartholomew D. Coffey, better known as Bart Coffey, chief of
police of Ely, is a pioneer of the Range 
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